


as certain as the sun will rise in the morning

by Emlee_J



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Appendicitis, Brief Descriptions of Medical Procedures, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Love Confessions, M/M, Mild manga spoilers, Second year Kagehina, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2020-10-17 10:44:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 27,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20619734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emlee_J/pseuds/Emlee_J
Summary: Tobio is certain, in the same way he is convinced that he will one day win an Olympic gold medal and have milk at lunch tomorrow, that he and Hinata will play volleyball together at university. He assumes Hinata feels the same, because when it comes to volleyball, Hinata's feelings are always identical.Except, apparently, they're not.He'd like to find out why, if only residual body parts and new feelings wouldn't get in the way first.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've fallen deep into volleyball hell and had to write this out as a form of therapy. This was originally meant to be a one-shot but apparently I just can not stop typing so I had to split it lmao because it was Getting Out of Hand.
> 
> Also this was beta'd by my own tired eyes at an ungodly hour in the morning so all mistakes are my own, I take all criticisms.

It’s in their second year when the dynamic shifts. Autumn has set in with golden leaves and brisk winds, whisking away the bitterness of another disappointing Interhigh and bringing the promise of another hopeful Nationals campaign.

It begins with Nishinoya being uncharacteristically late for morning practice.

Tobio doesn’t register his absence at first when they’re all changing – he and Hinata are always there before anyone else normally anyway, and the first ones to race through the gym doors too. It’s only when they’re getting the equipment out and setting up for the morning he realises there’s only one tiny team member leaping around and making noise. “No Nishinoya?” He asks of no-one in particular, and few of the others shrug in equal confusion.

“Okay, seriously, where is he?” Tanaka says, loudly, staring at the gym entrance with bafflement once they’re fully set up.

More voices pipe up around the gym.

“Is he sick?”

“I think he would’ve texted?”

“I didn’t hear anything…”

“He better not have gotten into trouble with the vice-principle again…”

Tobio exchanges a confused frown with Hinata, who just lifts one shoulder in a ‘no idea, don’t look at me’ gesture.

“Well we’ll just have to start without him,” Coach Ukai declares five minutes after practice was due to start. He waves for the new first year libero to join the main team and Tobio resigns himself to running around a lot more than usual. The new kid is good at getting the ball up, but not so great at aiming it at the setter position.

Twenty minutes into practice, Tobio groans as the ball hits the new libero’s arms at an awkward angle and sends it spinning off to the other side of the court. He can see a gap in the other side’s blockers, but there’s no way he’ll reach the ball in time. But the next second there’s a blur of orange in his peripheral and a smirk spreads over his face instead as he positions himself for what’s coming next.

“Kageyama, last hit!” Hinata calls as he just manages to sprint under the ball for an emergency set.

They’ve been working on these emergency sets when they can and Hinata is still, in Tobio’s humble opinion, absolutely appalling at it, but if he can get it high enough then Tobio can usually spike it down.

The ball curves up and Tobio launches at it, pinpointing an empty spot on the opponent’s side of the court immediately. He slams his palm against with the ball and watches with immense satisfaction as it powers down in a perfect straight, whizzing right by the blockers.

He turns to face Hinata as calls of ‘nice kill!’ ring pleasantly in his ears, exchanging a quick high-five.

“How was that?” His partner asks, grinning widely, waiting for praise. He’s like a puppy, Tobio thinks, complete with the big brown eyes and shaggy hair.

It wasn’t too bad of a set, for Hinata, in all honesty, but Tobio never lets him off easy. Hinata would be mad at him if he did. “Too low,” he says, poking Hinata in the forehead, “it has to go _high_ dummy.”

Hinata squawks, predictably, and pokes Tobio on his own forehead. “You got it over didn’t you?”

Before Tobio can retort, the gym’s door is pulled open with force and Nishinoya tumbles in, a piece of paper clenched in his hand and the world’s biggest smile on his face.

“Where’ve you been Noya?” Tanaka bellows, three feet from Tobio’s ear.

“I, Ryuu, have been _recognised_,” Nishinoya declares, bounding over to the court and holding out the paper like a trophy.

The team crowds around to get a better look, Coach Ukai jumping off his umpire’s stand to look in as well, too curious to complain about the disruption to practice.

“Uwaaah, Noya, you got _scouted_?” Hinata enthuses (squeals.)

Tobio scans the paper quickly – it’s a letter, formally offering Nishinoya a scholarship at a university Tobio actually recognises, because they have a nationally renowned team. It’s a very good school, and one Tobio had circled as one to think about when he got that stage, and he finds himself in part insanely jealous but also extremely proud. Nishinoya works harder than any libero he’s met, and he doesn’t know anyone who loves the position more than he does. He deserves this.

“Of course! I’m the star, remember?” Nishinoya declares, giving them all a winning grin.

There’s a sudden cacophony of congratulations and a rain of hands patting their libero on the back, ruffling his hair, until Tanaka roars louder than all of them and lifts Nishinoya clear into the air. The other members of the team quickly arrange him so he’s sitting on Tanaka’s shoulders and their ace leads the team in an impromptu victory lap around the gym, he and Nishinoya yelling louder than all of them combined. Even Tsukishima follows, though at a leisurely walk rather than a jog like the rest of them.

“So cool, so cool!” Hinata gushes as he practically skips beside Tobio, and Tobio can’t suppress the small wobbly smile that spreads over his face in return. The joy in the gymnasium is infectious.

It takes Coach the better part of ten minutes to get them all to settle down again and focus on practice, but Tobio personally thinks he’s grinning wider than any of them, including Nishinoya.

“I hope I get offered a place at a big fancy Tokyo university too!” Hinata says as they resettle back into their positions in the court (with Nishinoya taking his usual spot back), and picks up the ball to start his serve. “Then I won’t have to take any entrance exams!”

Tobio is pretty sure you still have to take some sort of test to get actually get your place, even with a full scholarship, but he doesn’t say this out loud, just in case he’s wrong. He’ll check with Nishinoya later. “If you want a place on a national college team then you’ll need to practice your shitty serves.”

“My serve is fine!” Hinata snaps. He flicks the ball he’s holding off his fingers and into the back of Tobio’s head. “Don’t worry about your empty skull!”

Tobio stares daggers at him as it bounces off harmlessly and Hinata catches it, giving him a mischievous grin and scooting off to the serving position as Coach yells “_Ginger!_” He covers the back of his head anyway, just to make a point. The whistle pierces the air and the ball swoops over the net and into a tricky spot for the other team to receive and he hears Hinata whoop with glee behind him.

“Lucky shot,” he mutters, but the corner of his mouth twitches anyway.

The rest of practice is loud and particularly rambunctious, including one memorable rally where Nishinoya performs three rolling thunders in a row. “Victory!” He and Tanaka sing as the whistle rings out the end of the final set for the morning.

Tobio watches them throw their arms around each other’s shoulders and perform some kind of lop-sided jig to the gym doors, still riding high on their glee.

He jerks slightly when a mop handle is abruptly shoved into his hand.

“Ahhh, I wanna go to Nationals _now_!” Hinata declares, swinging his own mop into air with exuberance before bringing it back down onto the floor with a wet thwap.

“We need to qualify first,” Tobio reminds him as he settles his own mop next to Hinata’s, ready to race him to the other end of the gym as usual.

“What, like we won’t?” Hinata replies, like he’s said something stupid. Tobio turns to look at him, and is met with the _look_.

Tobio’s breath halts in his lungs as he meets Hinata’s eyes. The brown looks like gold when he gets like this, like his unwavering determination has lit them up from within. Before, this expression was just unsettling, unnatural on Hinata’s usually sweet face, but now it’s almost… _arresting_. Puberty was finally catching up to Hinata, chiselling at his jawline and cheekbones and removing the roundness of youth. It strikes Tobio the most, in times like this, how much older his friend looks now. Most of the time he still sees the small, scrawny boy from middle school, but sometimes… sometimes there are moments where Hinata looks undeniably _handsome_.

The moment is shattered as the redhead suddenly hollers “To victory!” at the top of his lungs and starts sprinting across the floor, his mop ahead of him like a javelin.

Snapping out of his reverie and furiously indignant at this flagrant cheating, Tobio shouts after him in rage, “hey, don’t give yourself a headstart!” and takes off in pursuit, violently mopping the floor as he goes.

* * *

Three weeks later, on a Friday morning soon after they’ve just punched their second ticket to Nationals, the clubroom is lively and full of chatter. The topic of the morning is university, as Ennoshita has recently passed the practice exam for the school of his choice, something he was dreading, having found juggling club activities and studying harder in recent weeks.

Privately, Tobio is a little surprised Narita and Kinoshita both opted to stay on for Nationals. He suspected (and hoped) Ennoshita would, as their captain, but with all three intending to go on to university, he wondered if studies would take precedent. He wonders if quitting the club, albeit temporarily, in their first year put them off the idea. Still, he’s pleased, he wants to see all of their third years finish their high school volleyball journey on the national stage, same as last year.

He’s jolted out of his thoughts when Tanaka slings an arm around his shoulders. “Oi! Birdbrain, are you listening?”

Tobio was not listening.

“Sorry?”

Tanaka sighs, but it’s fond. “I _said_, at least you don’t have to worry about exams and tests and all of this fiasco when it’s your turn. All of the scouts will be clambering over themselves to have _you_.”

Tobio’s insides warm pleasantly at the praise, and he bites down a smile.

“Good thing too, really, there’s no way he’d get in just on academics,” Tsukishima says airily, snapping his sports glasses into place.

Tobio fixes him with a particularly vicious glare, but before he can spit out an insult, Hinata pops up by his elbow.

“You’ve probably got your top universities all picked out already, right?” He asks. His tone is light and borderline teasing, but his smile is earnest.

“Well, yeah, haven’t _you_?” Tobio returns, smirking. In truth, he hasn’t looked into it more than who has the best volleyball teams at the moment and circled those, but that’s still probably more forward thinking than Hinata has done. Not that it really matters - any scout that wants the very best of Tobio’s setting abilities will come after Hinata as well, and it’ll just be a matter of choosing the best team.

Hinata looks away, his face scrunching up in a small frown as his cheeks darken a little with embarrassment. “Well, there’s… just too many!” He blusters, suddenly busying himself with retying the laces on his shoes.

“Don’t worry little man, I’m sure there’ll be a scout out there looking to snap you two up! No thinking required!” Tanaka says brightly, smacking a friendly hand between Hinata’s shoulder blades and nearly toppling him over in the process. He ruffles Hinata’s hair when the redhead blinks up at him with wide eyes.

“Two?” Hinata repeats, looking a little confused.

“Yeah, you two, dummy,” Tanaka snorts, flicking his index finger between Hinata and Tobio. “I’m sure there’s a university or six that’s desperate to have our dynamic duo playing in their tournaments!”

“Oh,” Hinata breathes, and Tobio can’t really place his expression, which immediately bothers him. As someone who struggles to understand what most people are thinking, the ease of always knowing what’s going through Hinata’s head is something that Tobio finds liberating when figuring everyone else out is exhausting. The redhead looks awed at his upperclassmen’s praise, but he also looks a little perturbed, like it’s something he didn’t really want to hear. It’s a contradiction and Tobio scowls.

Tanaka just chuckles and squeezes Hinata’s shoulder, before following Ennoshita, who’s herding the first years out of the clubroom so practice can actually start on time.

Tobio hangs back with Hinata, who eventually gets to his feet to follow the rest of the team, his stomach knotting itself unpleasantly. He hasn’t really given university much in-depth thought, only that he wants to play for a good team, and that Hinata would surely follow him. Because it was undeniable that they played their best volleyball when they were together, and although Tobio still wants to be better than Hinata, will always want to be better, it’s more fun to have a rival who’s standing on the same side of the court has him. What better way to win than when you’re on the same platform? He’d assumed Hinata had felt the same, but, maybe…?

“Hey,” he calls, before his partner can exit the door.

“Yeah?” Hinata looks over his shoulder at him, curious.

“What would you say?” Tobio asks him, before he bottles it, “if we were asked.”

Hinata frowns and tilts his head, “asked what?”

“To play together.”

The word ‘togther’ lays thick on Tobio’s tongue.

“At college?”

Tobio nods, maintaining determined eye contact.

It’s Hinata who breaks it first, after a long moment of silence. His gaze darts away, and he runs a hand through his hair, making it look more unruly than it normally is. He looks uncomfortable, and nervous, and it sets Tobio’s teeth on edge.

“I don’t know,” he says eventually, and Tobio’s a little startled at how off balance this makes him feel. Honestly, he’d been expecting (hoping) that Hinata would say ‘yes, obviously’ because normally Hinata’s feelings about volleyball sync up with his perfectly. Even a straight rejection would be easier to solve than this (through an argument), but now Tobio just feels uncertain and maybe, just a little upset.

“What do you mean?” He demands, his eyebrows lowering into a frightful scowl.

Hinata’s hand slips to the back of his neck to rub at it, continuing to look awkward. Before he can say anything though, Ennoshita is yelling at that them from the end of the walkway to hurry up and get to the gym.

Hinata flicks his eyes to meet Tobio’s for a brief second before he swivels and hurries away.

Practice is awkward. He and Hinata sync up on the court as normal – it’s as easy as breathing, at this point, to pinpoint his tiny partner and send the ball straight into his hands, but it’s almost robotic. Neither of them really speak, unless they have to, and a few of their team mates give them strange looks at their unusual reserve.

“Did you two fight when we weren’t looking?” Tanaka sighs at Tobio when they’re taking a break, rubbing a towel over his head to whip away the sweat.

Tobio takes a long drink from his water bottle to delay his answer for a bit, before eventually replying, “no.” Because they didn’t fight, didn’t get into an argument, didn’t even roughhouse. It was just… a bit awkward.

Tanaka gives him a long, concerned look, before seemingly deciding to drop the subject and stepping away to talk with Nishinoya.

Tobio stares at his water bottle, lost in his thoughts when he notices a small presence humming next to him.

“Hey,” Hinata pipes up by his shoulder, soft. “Set for me?”

Glancing down at him, Tobio takes in his expression. He isn’t smiling, his face almost carefully blank, like he doesn’t want to give too much away. Tobio glares at it, not liking that Hinata is hiding from him and the redhead’s expression softens slightly in response, melting a bit until he looks hopeful.

“Come on, please?” He needles.

Tobio sighs and nods, because he can never refuse to set for Hinata, “fine.”

Their throw-set-spike routine is just as robotic as in the practice game, just going through the motions. Hinata doesn’t ask him to stop though, or complain, so Tobio continues as he is, setting at different heights and speeds according to how Hinata is jumping on autopilot.

When Ennoshita claps his hands and calls out to signal the end of practice and for clean-up to begin, Tobio catches the ball Hinata throws above his head rather than tossing it.

“About earlier…” he starts, when Hinata aborts his approach for a spike when he realises Tobio isn’t setting.

Hinata doesn’t say anything at first, staring off into the distance like he’s thinking deeply about something. “Later, okay?” He says finally, planting his hands on his hips and giving Tobio a firm expression, silently challenging him not to argue.

Tobio wants to, because he always does, but Tsukishima takes that moment to loudly remind him that it’s their turn to take down the net and a sigh punches out of him instead. “Fine,” he grumbles, to both Hinata and Tsukishima, and trudges over to the winch to lower the net.

* * *

Tobio spends most of the rest of the morning clock watching, waiting for the lunch bell. Today’s morning lessons include English and Maths, easily his two worst subjects, and at this point maths is starting to feature more letters than in his English lessons, and he’s long since decided that it’s not worth the headache. It’s much easier to sit down with Yachi on a quiet afternoon and go over everything with her anyway, because Yachi is much better at explaining ‘algebra’ than his actual teacher is.

(Hinata still herds Tsukishima for English help, because Hinata is apparently a sucker for punishment. Tobio does not herd Tsukishima, because he’s recently discovered Google Translate and it’s a vast improvement because it doesn’t bitch at him for not knowing what a ‘simile’ is.)

Also, the weather is looking good today, which means Hinata will come to get him. When it is particularly nice outside, the redhead tends to come and find Tobio in his classroom at lunch and invite him to eat out on the picnic benches. Well, ‘invite’ is a nice way to put it. More accurately he just bounds in and drags Tobio off with him, and Tobio had stopped protesting somewhere around May.

It isn’t exactly warm today, and most students are wearing their jackets, but the sun is out and shining and so when the bell rings Tobio waits for Hinata to barrel through his classroom door as he usually does.

After fifteen minutes and many glances to the door it becomes clear Hinata is maybe, probably, not actually coming.

Tobio scowls, shoves himself out of his chair and stomps out of the room. He feels bizarrely like he’s been stood up, which is stupid, because Hinata had never said he would see him at lunch, but unless the weather is bad it’s like an unspoken expectation that Hinata would just be there. Tobio shoves his hands in his pockets and hunches his shoulders as irritation rumbles in his gut.

Normally, he doesn’t think he’d be so annoyed, but Hinata was weird earlier after college was brought up and Tobio has been wondering all morning if he was mad at him. If Tobio is truly being honest, he really doesn’t like it when Hinata is _actually_ mad at him. There’s a difference between their usual bickering, which is a daily occurrence and something Tobio secretly quite enjoys, and _fighting_. Ever since their brawl in the gym last year he does not like fighting with Hinata. He isn’t completely sure if the redhead really is mad at him or not, but he was being stand-offish and distant and Tobio just wants to clear the air.

_And_ continue their conversation, because Tobio really wants an answer as to why Hinata doesn’t know if he would play with him in college or not.

Hovering in Hinata’s classroom doorway, he peers in and spots Hinata instantly. He’s in his seat, but he’s turned away from Tobio to face the windows, his head pillowed on his arms, folded on his desk. There is no sign of Hinata’s lunch on his desk, just his notebook and scattering of chewed pencils. Before Kageyama can enter the room and loom over the stupid ginger idiot, another voice pipes up.

“Are you feeling okay, Hinata?”

It’s one of his classmates who asks, another boy with glasses that reminds Tobio of a teenage Takeda-sensei.

Hinata grunts from his seat. “Breakfast must’ve been weird today,” he mumbles into his arms.

The classmate nods, looking sympathetic, “well maybe try and eat something? It might make you feel better if you had some lunch.”

Hinata hums at the suggestion but says nothing else, and the other boy slips away.

Tobio grips the lining on the inside of his trouser pockets. Does Hinata not feel well? He seemed fine this morning.

Suddenly the urge to storm over wanes very quickly. He’s very aware that despite the sunny weather, there are still a decent amount of people inside the classroom, several of whom are giving him curious looks, and he kind of doesn’t want to make a scene. Especially if Hinata isn’t up to being his usual loud and boisterous self, which would take some of the attention away.

Tobio lingers for a bit longer, indecisive, before heaving a sigh and spinning on his heel to leave. There’s too many people around to bring up a conversation that might very well end up in arguing, and Hinata doesn’t look like he’s in the mood to allow himself to be dragged off.

There’s always afternoon practice after all.

* * *

Unfortunately, this doesn’t quite go to plan either.

Hinata doesn’t show up for their traditional sprint to the changing rooms (they had lost count of the score once they passed the triple digits, but Tobio is confident he’s still in the lead, naturally.) It’s disappointing, but not overly surprising, Tobio supposes. He ends up finding Hinata already in the clubroom, tugging on his kneepads.

He dumps his bag down on the ground next to him and grunts out, “hey.”

The redhead swivels his head up, fingers clasped around his brace. “Hi,” he offers, after a moment.

Tobio searches his face with deep scrutiny and can’t see any obvious signs of Hinata being pissed off with him. Mostly, he just looks a bit perturbed, and Tobio realises he’s leaning in a little bit (a lot) and quickly straightens.

Hinata crooks an eyebrow at him. “You alright?” He isn’t leaping around with his usual amount of overbearing energy, but his tone seems friendly enough.

Satisfied that whatever had happened this morning was probably no longer hanging over his little orange head, Tobio just nods and, after a moment, offers a hand to help Hinata up. The other boy blinks, but after slipping his remaining kneepad on, he grabs Tobio’s hand with a grunt of thanks and hauls himself up.

Tobio drops his hand quickly when Hinata straightens, and rubs his palm over his thigh discreetly to chase away the tingling there. He opens his mouth to ask Hinata if ‘later’ is now, and can Hinata please explain what he meant by ‘I don’t know’ when another hand smacks him sharply between his shoulder blades and he ends up coughing instead.

“Hurry up, Kageyama, I wanna get that cutshot we were working on like, perfected!” Tanaka hollers next to him.

“Uhh, right…” Tobio replies slowly, looking away from the ace to find Hinata again, only to find he was already heading out of the changing room with Yamaguchi.

He heaves a sigh, and bends down to grab his exercise gear from his bag.

Hinata is immediately corralled into serving practice with Yamaguchi and some of the first years when they enter the gym. Tobio isn’t sure how he feels about it as he heads over to help Tanaka practice his cutshot as requested. Normally Hinata starts off practice whinging for a toss before starting on other things.

Tobio can’t be too disappointed though, as he really does enjoy setting for Tanaka. He's already starting to feel the earlier stress of the day start to melt away as the team’s ace launches at the ball for another attempt at sharpening his spike’s angle. He’s particularly upbeat today, loud and excited and it’s making Tobio feel a bit warmer inside.

“Duck Tadashi!” Tanaka bellows as the ball comes off of his hand a little too hard – curving before it hits the court floor and flying off to the side of the gym where Yamaguchi is practicing his serve with a couple of the first years receiving.

Yamaguchi yelps in surprise and just about manages to dart out of the way as the ball skims his nose, and slams directly into the side of a first year’s head. Tobio thinks he hears Tsukishima snort with amusement somewhere in the distance.

“Shit, sorry! My bad!”

“Nice kill,” Kageyama declares blandly, watching as the first year stumbles and falls over in shock, but is otherwise unhurt.

Tanaka blinks at him before throwing his head back and howling with laughter, waving wordlessly at Yamaguchi to throw the ball back.

“Tobio! Was that a joke?” Nishinoya chirps, popping up next to him and poking him in the side with a wide grin.

Tobio squirms away from him and grunts, frowning as he notes the distinct lack of Hinata in Yamaguchi’s little group. He scans the gym for the redhead, and quickly spots him up front, near the stage. Hinata is sitting against the wall, head tipped back, and eyes shut.

Tobio’s frown deepens and he excuses himself from Tanaka and Nishinoya as Tsukishima inserts himself into the conversation.

(“I can’t believe His Grace actually managed to make a pun.”

“What’s a pun Tsukki?”

“… I’ll pretend you didn’t ask me that.”)

He wanders over to Hinata, the beginnings of concern starting to prickle in his mind. If it were anyone else, he’d think they were taking a break and wouldn’t give it a second’s thought. But this is _Hinata_, who has a bad habit of not taking breaks unless someone forces him to, and they’ve barely been at practice for thirty minutes.

“Oi.” He pokes the toe of his shoe into Hinata’s thigh (it’s… quite firm. He tries really hard not to dwell on that.) “What’s with you?” It comes out harsher than he means it, but in fairness Hinata has been acting strangely all day and it's left him a bit rattled.

Hinata has his water bottle pressed to his lips, but his mouth is clamped in a thin line and the bottle’s cap is shut. He pulls it away from his mouth and opens one eye to look up at Tobio, before closing it again and pressing his bottle against his forehead this time. “I just… need a second. Get a ball or something, I’ll be there in a minute.”

His voice is tight, and he sounds possibly annoyed? Tobio isn’t really sure and he huffs in frustration. Maybe Hinata _is_ mad at him? He can’t keep up. “A second for _what_? A quick power nap? We’ve only been here twenty minutes,” He gripes. His nerves are tetchy.

“Because I don’t want to puke all over the gym floor,” Hinata snaps, finally dragging his water bottle away from his face to give Tobio a frustrated glare. A slight brush spreads over his cheeks (he’s quite pale otherwise, Tobio notes), and he mutters “again.”

Tobio rocks back a step. “You’re gonna be sick?” He asks, concern and also deep wariness rolling in his own belly. He definitely filled his quota for dealing with Hinata’s vomit last year. He’s not great with… body stuff.

“Not if you _give me a minute_, no,” Hinata mumbles, rubbing his free hand over his eyes and into his hair as he ducks his head, away from Tobio’s gaze.

Pursing his lips, Tobio drops down into a crouch next to him. “If you’re not feeling well, why are you here dumbass? The rest of us don’t want your germs,” he tells him. His words are sharp as usual, but increasing worry gentles his tone. He hasn’t seen Hinata unwell, ever, he doesn’t think, not even with a cold. Mild fever and exhaustion from a gruelling game, yes, but not actually _sick_ and the sight of him pale and queasy is disconcerting.

“Shut-up,” Hinata groans, “it’s just a stomach ache. I’ve played with those lots of times! It’ll go away in a minute.”

Tobio recognises that tone – false confidence. A bold sentence, but Hinata doesn’t actually believe what he’s saying. He thinks back to earlier at lunch, where Hinata was hunched at his desk and apparently not eating, muttering something about a bad breakfast. “How long have you been feeling sick?” He asks.

“I dunno… since, this morning, maybe? At first I thought it was because I failed the last history quiz we got but it hasn’t gone away.”

Well that explains why Hinata didn’t come to get him at lunch, and why he didn’t meet him to race to the changing rooms or battle Tanaka for his tosses. Tobio feels a little guilty (and a lot relieved) for thinking it was their conversation from this morning that was making Hinata still act distantly, when he was just feeling sick.

He reaches out and sinks his fingers into Hinata’s mess of orange hair, raking his blunt nails against his scalp. Hinata whinges at the familiar treatment, but doesn’t do anything to move his hand.

“You should go home if you’re sick,” he reiterates lowly, tugging gently at his hair to hammer home the point. “You’re no good here if you’re puking everywhere.”

Hinata gives him a weak glare and finally shoves at his wrist to dislodge his hand. He opens his mouth to retort, but Tobio cuts him off, predicting what he’s about to say.

“If it was going to ‘go away in a minute’ then it would’ve done so by now, right? You should just go home and sleep it off.”

“He’s right, Hinata,” another voice says from above them and Tobio very nearly jumps out of his skin before he registers that it’s just Ennoshita. Their captain is peering down at Hinata with worry written into his otherwise stern face. “You’ll probably feel much better if you get an early night in, and then you’ll back here before you know it.”

“Besides,” Tobio continues, “if you push it you might make it worse, and then what if you can’t play volleyball tomorrow either? You _know_ you have to rest, how can you play if you’re not in peak condition?”

Hinata’s eyes widen at that, looking a little horrified. Tobio can sympathise – the thought of no volleyball for two days in a row is horrendous.

“Okay, okay, _fine_. If I go home and sleep will you stop nagging?” Hinata mutters.

Tobio is a little surprised he gave in that easily – Hinata’s getting better at making sure he doesn’t run himself ragged wanting to play volleyball constantly, but he still struggles, sometimes. It’s probably a testament to how bad he’s feeling. Or how terrible the thought of no volleyball tomorrow is. Both, presumably.

Nodding, he loops one hand around Hinata’s bicep (that's pretty firm, too… oh God _stop it_), and heaves him up. Hinata’s face goes a little green around the edges and he swallows a few times, but he’s otherwise steady on his feet.

“Okay?” Tobio murmurs softly.

Hinata hums, and doesn’t protest or question him when Tobio touches his elbow lightly and guides him back to the changing rooms.

* * *

“Can you even cycle home? You’re not going to fall into a ravine or something are you?”

Hinata gives him his best ‘you’re being stupid again’ look that he can manage while also looking approximately two seconds away from throwing up all over his bicycle. He hadn’t bothered to get changed earlier, he’d just grabbed his stuff and started to head for the bicycle rack. Tobio had followed (to make sure he didn’t fall over or something, obviously.) “Kageyama, I don’t live anywhere near a ravine.” He pauses. “What’s a ravine again?”

Tobio ignores this question, because who knows what a ravine is, it’s just something that always comes up in drama movies. “Why don’t you just get the bus?”

He’s never actually been to Hinata’s house, but he’s fairly sure there’s a bus that goes nearby. There was a week last year when the chain on Hinata’s bike had to be replaced so he’d had to get a bus to and from school. Hinata had complained a lot, something about the inconvenience and missing the exercise.

Hinata’s face goes a little greener, if that was at all possible. “The bus is so bumpy though…” he whines, slumping over his bike’s handlebars.

“Then call your Mum or something.”

“Can’t, she isn’t home,” Hinata grumbles. “She took Natsu to go and visit my aunt and uncle this afternoon. I think she’s back tomorrow.”

Tobio wonders briefly why Hinata hadn’t gone with them but then remembers that would mean missing out on at least two practice sessions, and Hinata would’ve definitely chosen practice over a brief family visit. Tobio approves.

“Look, it doesn’t matter, I’ll be fine. Pedalling will keep my mind off it!” Hinata declares, swinging a leg over his bike to mount it. He seems sturdy enough, still pale and quiet, but he doesn’t look like he’s going to topple over as soon as he leaves the school grounds at least.

“Don’t die,” Tobio threatens.

Hinata’s smile is much smaller than usual, but just as bright. Tobio’s stomach flutters. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he promises, starting to pedal slowly towards the gates.

Tobio opted to take up serving practice when he returned back to the gym. He felt wound-up, distracted, ever since Hinata had left. He could feel his temper start to bubble as a result of his tumultuous emotions. He was aware enough now to know when his frustrations got like this, he was better off not practicing with anyone else, just for a little bit, to let his head cool down. Most of the team were pretty good at shouldering his remarks when he got too snappy (except for some of the more timid first-years), but Tobio still doesn’t actually like losing his temper with them.

Lifting the ball and spinning it between his hands, he draws in a deep breath and picks out a spot to aim for. Clamping his palms over the ball to stop its momentum, he lifts it into the air, tossing it up and begins his approach.

Arms swung back, bend knees, lift off…

(He hadn’t seen Hinata spring for a jump at all this afternoon. No opportunity to set for him. And Tobio misses it which is stupid, he tossed for him like, a hundred times this morning, and he’s going to set for him tomorrow-

But what about in the future, when every day there is no Hinata to set for?)

Tobio’s hand slams against the ball with too much force. It flies across the gym like a bullet, missing the spot he was aiming for by metres. It ricochets from the floor and hurtles upwards, slamming into the folded basketball backboard above with an echoing clang.

“Thinking of switching to basketball?” Tsukishima asks airily as he breezes past.

Nerves already frayed, Tobio spins around, feeling an insult boil its way up his throat before he has the foresight to clamp down on it when a small hand grips at his shoulder.

“Dude that was so cool!” Nishinoya enthuses, “I think that was most powerful one I’ve seen you do!”

“I missed,” Tobio snarls, frustration still burning his nerves.

“So? That just means you gotta practice more! Help me with my serve receives?”

Tobio drags in a deep sigh before looking down to meet Nishinoya’s gaze. The libero’s expression is eager and earnest, but his eyes are gentle, knowing. He’s a lot more observant than people give him credit for, and Tobio wonders if he’s here partly because he wants to help him calm down by being a more constructive target to aim for. Tobio feels a rush of appreciation for his upperclassmen and nods gratefully, reaching for another ball from the basket.

* * *

As soon as Tobio gets home later that evening and has flopped onto his bed, he pulls his phone out and scowls at it. It hadn’t vibrated at all on the way home, so the blank homescreen isn’t a surprise, but he’s still a little put out.

Admittedly, texting isn’t really his thing. In middle school he had no-one _to_ text, and now in high school, everyone he would text he already sees on a regular basis. There’s a group chat for the team, set up by Sugawara last year, but he rarely says anything, content to read the other’s messages. He finds it difficult to express what he wants to say just through text. Hinata had suggested using emojis once, but most of them are incomprehensible (one of the few things he and Tsukishima agree on.)

Still, he brings up Hinata’s contact info and stabs out a message:

**Me: (6:04pm)**

_You alive?_

There’s a ding as it’s sent and Tobio spends five minutes staring intently at the screen before it becomes clear Hinata is not replying straight away. Hopefully, that means he’s asleep, and not dead in a ditch somewhere.

Shuddering at that sudden disturbing mental image, he tosses his phone somewhere in the vicinity of his desk before rolling out of bed to have a shower.

Ten minutes later, the notification light is blinking away as Tobio comes back into the room, towelling his hair dry. He flings the towel away and snaps up his phone, flipping it open to read the message with intense urgency.

**Hinata S: (6:16pm)**

_Didn’t fall into a ravine!_

Tobio lets his shoulders fall from where they were hunched up by his ears, relief loosening his muscles. He taps his thumbs lightly against the phone’s keys, mulling over what to say back. _See you at practice? _No, that sounds like he’s ending the conversation. _Have you been sick?_ No, he doesn’t actually want to know if he’s puked or not. Something simpler then.

**Me: (6:20pm)**

_Feeling better?_

There’s another long pause, which Tobio finds a lot more annoying than before, now that he knows Hinata’s awake. The plastic of the phone’s casing creaks as he grips it tightly, glaring furiously at the screen.

**Hinata S: (6:27pm)**

_No_

That’s it. One word. Not even any of those weird faces Hinata likes using so much.

‘No’ there’s no improvement or ‘no’ he’s feeling worse? Tobio punches out a reply.

**Me: (6:28pm)**

_What does that mean?_

Again, Hinata doesn’t reply right away, but this time Tobio can’t be bothered to wait for another text message he has to navigate an answer to. He presses the call button and rams his phone by his ear, drumming his fingers on his desk impatiently with his free hand. Logically, he doesn’t know why he’s this worried. It’s probably just a stomach bug. People get those all the time. Tanaka had had two days off at the beginning of this year with a particularly vicious bout of food poisoning and although he had missed him at practice, he wasn’t even close to being this bothered about it.

But this isn’t Tanaka, this is Hinata, and maybe that’s the difference.

The line clicks to signal Hinata’s picked up and he barks out, “what does ‘no’ mean?” before Hinata can utter a greeting.

A burst of static as Hinata blows out a sigh on the other end. “It means I still feel like crap, _obviously_, Bakageyama.” His voice is whiny, and he sounds tired.

“Did you sleep?”

“Tried. Couldn’t.” There’s a rustling on the other end – bed sheets, as Hinata probably rolls over. A quiet grunt. “Stomach hurts.”

Tobio gnaws the inside of his cheek, feeling his shoulders start to hunch up again as worry builds up again inside him. “Bad?”

Another grunt. “Mmhm.”

“Maybe you should take something?”

“I… uh...” Hinata hesitates a moment, “probably not the best idea.”

He’s still feeling nauseous then.

Tobio sucks in a deep breath through his nose and releases it slowly, trying to work out some of the tightness from his shoulders. He’s going to get cramp if this keeps up. He opens his mouth to suggest something else inane but Hinata beats him to the punch.

“How was practice?”

He sounds sullen. Tobio understands, he would be in a foul mood if he had to miss out too. “It was… fine,” he says, lamely. Because it was. Serving for Nishinoya to receive was helpful for both stress relief and improving his accuracy, but other than that, it was almost boring. Without Hinata there to set for, or compete with, or yell at, half the fun of practice was just missing.

“Did you miss me?” Hinata’s voice sounds a little lighter, like he’s aiming for teasing, but it’s so quiet Tobio can’t imagine the usual sly grin that would accompany it. He sounds hopeful, almost.

There’s a long pause. Tobio traces the lines in the wood of his desk idly with his free index finger. “Yeah,” he breathes out eventually, just as quiet, because he did.

Hinata doesn’t say anything in reply, and Tobio just stands there listening to the other boy’s soft breathing, his heart starting to pound in his chest. The silence goes on for long enough that Tobio wonders if Hinata has finally fallen asleep when he hears another soft grunt, a rustle of sheets as Hinata shifts around again.

“Go to sleep,” he orders finally, just to break the quiet.

“Tryin’,” Hinata yawns back. More rustling. “I’ll beat you to the clubroom tomorrow.”

“Yeah right,” Tobio replies, aiming for the usual barbed tone but it ends up coming out too soft. There’s a few beats of quiet, before Hinata mumbles a goodbye and the line clicks dead. Tobio puffs out a breath sharply enough to ruffle his fringe and drops his phone back onto his desk, before flopping backwards onto his bed.

He should be feeling better, having spoken to Hinata and reassuring himself that the little idiot was safe in bed but he doesn’t. He doesn’t like the thought of Hinata feeling bad enough that he’s struggling to sleep, when he can usually conk out absolutely anywhere if he’s tired enough. And he really doesn’t like the thought of Hinata being alone all night – what if he gets worse?

Tobio drags his hands down his face with a groan. This is stupid. It’s just Hinata, he’s just got a stomachache, and he should not be this bothered.

But he is, and fed-up with his brain coming up with more and more worse-case scenarios for things to go wrong for an unattended Hinata, he springs to his and feet and grabs his phone again.

He scrolls up through past text messages before he finds it: Hinata’s address from when he had invited him, and the other then first years, to come round and study at the end of last year as he had a free house. Bad weather had interfered, and the session had been relocated to Yamaguchi’s house. It was easier for everyone to get to as it didn’t require going over a mountain, but Tobio had still been a little disappointed, at the time.

Saving the address into his phone’s map function, he grabs a jacket that was slung over his desk chair and a few other things before thudding down the stairs.

“I’m going out!” He hollers back into the house as he toes his trainers on, and he hears his mother say something in return but doesn’t listen, closing the front door and grabbing his bike from where it’s chained at the side of the house.

* * *

Forty minutes later, he’s raising his fist to knock, _again_, at Hinata’s front door. He’s been standing here for what feels like ages, slightly out of breath.

(He will never admit it out loud, but he’s sort of mad impressed Hinata manages to cycle up and down what was possibly the hilliest bike route Tobio’s ever been on in his life, and at least twice a day. Honestly, no wonder he can jump for hours, Tobio’s thighs are burning just thinking about the route home.

This is also, probably, why Hinata’s thighs are quite nice- nope. _Stop it_. Now.)

Tobio’s thoughts are jarred when the front door finally swings open and Hinata’s standing there, looking simultaneously really pissed off, and also like he’s going to keel over.

“_Kageyama?_” Hinata gapes, the anger sliding off his face immediately, swiftly replaced by bewilderment.

“Finally,” Tobio grumbles, “I’ve been standing out here for ten minutes you know.”

“You have not, you just knocked like, a million times,” Hinata gripes back, but he steps back to let Tobio in. His shoulders are a little hunched as Tobio slips by him to removes his shoes, and there’s a little sharp gasp as he closes the front door.

Tobio’s eyes flick up sharply, and he just catches Hinata’s eyes squeeze shut, his mouth set in a firm grim line before the tense expression slips away as fast as it came.

“Why are you here?” Hinata asks, before Tobio can comment on it. He looks very tired, and a little irritable, but he only sounds curious.

“To make sure you don’t die overnight,” Tobio blurts before he can say something more reasonable, and he winces. It’s true, but he didn’t have to phrase it like _that_.

Hinata blinks at him, brown eyes big and warm. “Oh,” he breathes, “umm, thanks.” His expression resembles the same one he makes when he sees something really cool in a volleyball match – wide and wondrous. Tobio’s stomach flips. He makes a ‘follow me’ gesture and wanders off down the hallway and into a room on the left with Tobio in tow.

It ends up being the living room, and Hinata was apparently in here before he answered the door – the lamps and the television are switched on, and there’s a duvet half covering the sofa. Hinata crawls into the uncovered part and drags the duvet back over himself, pulling it enough so that the opposite side of the sofa is exposed instead. Tobio takes this in an invitation and sits down, straight and stiff.

“’M not gonna be great company,” Hinata mumbles into his little duvet cocoon. He stretches his socked feet a little and presses his toes into Tobio’s thigh.

“I know, dumbass.” Tobio pokes the bottom of one of Hinata’s feet in retaliation and the corner of his mouth twitches up when it squirms away from him. Hinata’s feet really are tiny. “I don’t care. Why aren’t you in bed anyway?”

“Sofa’s comfier.”

Tobio has to agree, it’s quite a large sofa, and the cushions are the squishy kind that envelope you where you sit. He settles back against them, and wonders briefly if Hinata’s little sister ever gets stuck sitting here (and if Hinata himself does, for that matter), focusing on the tv in lieu of anything else to do.

There’s some sort of gameshow on, though Hinata doesn’t seem too invested in it, and the volume is turned down low. Tobio wonders if he had just put it on for background noise, to make up for having no-one else in the house. “Did you call your Mum?” He asks.

“She called me,” Hinata sighs, grunting loudly and rolling onto his back, shifting the duvet. “I think Takeda-sensei or Coach called her when I went home from practice?”

Speaking of parents, Tobio pulls his phone from his pocket to text his own mother Hinata’s address so that she knows where he is, before she starts calling him too. “She coming back?”

“Nah, it’s just a stomach ache, I’ll be fine. Don’t make that face, ‘Yama, if the wind changes you’ll stay like that.”

“What does that even mean,” Tobio grouches, making no effort to untwist his frown. He sends off another text to his mother to say he’ll probably leave for school with Hinata in the morning, just to cover his bases. He taps his foot against the carpeted floor as it occurs to him he didn’t actually bring anything for a sleep over in his hurry to leave the house, but the clothes he’s wearing are comfy enough to sleep in at least. And his house is technically between Hinata’s and the school anyway, so he can stop by to get changed and grab what he needs in the morning.

Hinata makes a whining noise low in his throat then, wiggling under his duvet. He pulls his legs in a little before stretching them out. His legs are too short to reach the other end of the sofa (obviously), but his feet just about reach Tobio’s lap, where he plonks them. “I think Mum said there’s dinner in the fridge if you want it,” he says.

Tobio drops his hand on one of Hinata’s ankles. Hinata doesn’t kick him off. “I ate before I left.” It isn’t a total lie - he’d had a snack when he first got in, but right now he can’t be bothered to move, and Hinata’s small socked feet are warm on his thigh. He curls his fingers slightly around the joint when Hinata starts fidgeting again, “go to sleep, dummy.”

He gets a mumbled complaint in response, but the redhead falls still at least, and Tobio drops his head back against the back of the sofa, watching the gameshow play out on the television screen.

* * *

Tobio must’ve dozed off somewhere between episodes three and four of the ridiculous gameshow marathon, because he’s rudely awoken by Hinata suddenly kicking his foot out into his stomach. He grunts and shoves his feet away, ready to shout his complaint as usual when Hinata interrupts him with a low whine.

Annoyance is swiftly replaced by growing alarm as Hinata suddenly throws his duvet off and rolls from his back into a half-sitting-half-lying-down position on his side, his face scrunched up in a grimace. Tobio scrambles to his feet to crouch down in front of him, reaching out to grab Hinata’s shoulder. He feels warm beneath the sweat-damp cotton.

“Hey, you alright?” His voice is louder than he intended, control lost with the sudden panic.

“Oww, shit,” Hinata whimpers, grasping at his side with a hiss.

Tobio’s fingers tighten on Hinata’s shoulder, alarm bells starting to ring in his head. Even at the age of seventeen, Hinata doesn’t really swear, and he still jabs Tobio in the ribs whenever his language gets too vulgar. If Hinata is swearing then –

“Is it getting worse?” He asks.

Hinata doesn’t reply immediately, instead sucking in a deep breath and heaving himself up into a proper sitting position. Tobio’s hand falls away from his shoulder as he moves, and he settles it against the redhead’s knee instead. Hinata turns his head towards the sofa and mashes his cheek against the cushion, sighing into the leather. “Yeah.”

“Maybe you should take something,” Tobio suggests, starting to feel his heartrate pick up with his increasing concern. It’s been a few hours since he arrived, surely, and he’s pretty sure Hinata was sleeping as well just now, shouldn’t he be feeling better? He slips his phone out of his pocket to check the time – just after ten pm. It’s been almost three hours since he turned up at Hinata’s.

“Okay,” Hinata agrees, his voice tight and quiet. Tobio hates it.

“Be right back,” he says, getting to his feet to go in search of some pain medication or antacids or _something_.

About fifteen minutes later, after finally locating the bathroom and kitchen, Tobio returns armed with a box of paracetamol, a glass of water and some bread in his hands and a freshly made hot water bottle tucked under his arm.

“Here,” he holds out the bread first, and Hinata opens one eye to squint at him. “You have to eat something before you take tablets,” he instructs. “Are you still feeling sick?”

“Not really, I guess,” Hinata mumbles, reaching out with his free hand to take the bread. His other hand, Tobio notes, is still grasping his right side.

Hinata manages to swallow the bread down easily enough, and he takes the tablets Tobio gives him, before eventually unclamping his hand from his side to take the glass of water from him too. “Thanks,” he sighs out as he finishes the water, handing Tobio back the empty glass.

“I got a hot water bottle, do you want to stay here or go to bed?” Tobio asks.

“Stay here, I don’t want to get up,” Hinata decides immediately, and he allows Tobio to help him lie back down on the sofa, curling around the hot water bottle that is handed to him.

Tobio almost wants to offer to carry him to his bed, but the thought makes him feel so embarrassed his cheeks start to burn. He moves to stand when Hinata reaches out with a small hand to tangle it in his jumper.

“Thank-you,” Hinata says, soft and earnest. His face is pale and sweaty, and his bright hair is even in more of a disarray than usual, spread over his forehead. But his eyes are as warm as they normally are and Tobio spends a few moments just holding eye contact with him.

“Yeah,” he breathes out after the silence starts to become awkward.

Hinata tugs a little at where he’s holding onto Tobio’s jumper. “You don’t have to go home, if you don’t want to.” His voice sounds hopeful.

Tobio hadn’t been planning on leaving Hinata alone at all, but the invite sends warmth down to his toes. “Alright.”

“There’s a futon… somewhere,” Hinata tells him, his voice muffled as he turns his head to bury it back into his duvet.

He’s starting to become quite familiar with the Hinata household, Tobio thinks to himself as he finally manages to locate a futon tucked away in a cupboard in what looks like to be some of spare room crossed with a junk room. (He supposes those sorts of rooms were needed when there were small children in the house.)

Dragging the bedding into the living room, he’s thankful there’s enough room on the floor in front of the sofa to roll it out, pleased he doesn’t have to sleep too far away from Hinata. He can’t tell if the redhead has fallen back asleep or not, quiet and still under the duvet, but he doesn’t want to disturb him. Quietly, he turns off the television and the lamps, and crawls into the bedding.

Too wired to actually fall asleep just yet, worry and concern still prickling up and down his spine, he pulls out his phone, intending to surf the internet aimlessly until his eyelids start to droop. He notes he got a response from his mother, telling him to have fun, and he purses his lips, just a little, thinking about how much he’d prefer his first sleep over at Hinata’s to be in much better circumstances than this.

Tobio spends an indeterminate amount of time scrolling through pages on professional volleyball players, mindlessly reading through statistics to calm his mind until he starts to nod off. He sleeps fitfully, waking every now and then to glance over at Hinata on the sofa, who seems to be in a different position every time he looks at him. At some point, the duvet becomes abandoned on the other end of the sofa, Hinata seemingly preferring to curl around the hot water bottle for warmth instead. He doesn’t seem to be fully awake, so Tobio doesn’t get out from the futon to bother him, even if he doesn’t think Hinata’s getting any more sleep than he is.

He’s in the middle of an unsettling dream about trying to score against a volleyball team where every player is seven feet tall when a pair of small feet lands on the floor, hard, near his head. Tobio starts awake, disorientated for a moment, before he registers that Hinata has gotten to his feet. It’s too dark in the room to see well and Tobio fumbles around for a moment before he finds his phone and he switches it on for some illumination.

Under the tiny white light of the phone screen, Hinata looks even paler than he did earlier, wobbling unsteadily on his feet.

“Hinata?” Tobio questions, sitting up in the futon. His heart starts hammering away again – what now?

Hinata doesn’t reply, tottering a few unsteady steps in a weird, clumsy circle before apparently changing his mind about walking anywhere and sitting heavily back down on the sofa. He folds almost in half, arms around his middle and makes a noise that sounds so distressingly like a sob that Tobio almost drops his phone in alarm.

Fumbling for the nearest lamp’s lightswitch, Tobio manages to switch it on with clumsy fingers to bathe them both in warm light. He scrambles forwards on his knees and sinks his fingers in Hinata’s sweaty hair, tugging gently at the orange strands to get his attention. “Hinata?” He asks again. Hinata doesn’t reply, just his heavy breathing between them. Tobio tugs again. “_Hinata?_ … Shouyou?”

It feels almost wrong, forbidden, using his first name, but it does the trick and Hinata jerks slightly under his hand. The redhead shuffles on the sofa, tilting forward until his forehead knocks against Tobio’s sternum. “I… I _really_ don’t feel well, Kageyama,” he whimpers into his chest.

Tobio slides his fingers around to cradle the back of Hinata’s skull. His lungs feel tight and small underneath Hinata’s head as panic starts to squeeze the air from them. “Does your stomach still hurt?”

“_Really_ hurts,” Hinata whines, and Tobio can feel small damp spots forming on the fabric of his jumper. He isn’t sure whether they’re from sweat or tears.

“We should call your Mum,” Tobio decides, because he’s never seen Hinata like this, ever, and he is clearly is really, seriously unwell, and Tobio doesn’t know what to do. He feels panicky and shaky, and his heart’s thundering away in his ears. “Where’s your phone?” He forces his voice to stay level, to not let on to Hinata how unsettled he is, even though he can probably hear his heart pounding against his ribcage.

Hinata sniffs wetly. “Next to the sofa, by the door. I think.”

Tobio manages to coax Hinata into sitting back against the sofa, trying not to focus on how his cheeks are wet and his hands are clamped against his side. Hurrying to his feet and to the door, he finds Hinata’s small and battered phone on a small coffee table. Flipping it open, he sits next to Hinata on the sofa. “What’s your password?” He asks, because he doesn’t think Hinata is exactly capable of holding his phone and maintaining a conversation right now.

Hinata tilts until he’s leaning heavily against Tobio’s side. “The first day we went to nationals.”

A rush of intense fondness fills Tobio with sudden warmth, helping to dispel some of the ice-cold panic. That’s the date he’s set his password to as well.

He finds Hinata’s mother’s number quickly and hits dial, pressing the phone against his ear, listening to the dial tone. With his free hand, he coaxes one of Hinata’s hands away from where it’s pressed against his stomach. “Squeeze mine if it hurts,” he murmurs quietly. Hinata grips his hand immediately and squeezes hard.

A robotic sounding voice sounds over the phone speaker, inviting Tobio to leave a voicemail. “Dammit,” he hisses as he presses redial, trying again.

“She’s a heavy sleeper,” Hinata explains when it goes to voicemail a second time.

Tobio is contemplating calling his own mother instead, even though she normally switches her phone off at night to save the battery, when Hinata suddenly grips his hand extra tightly and hisses sharply.

One look at Hinata’s twisted face and Tobio feels his heart flip over. “Maybe we should go to hospital.”

“Hospital?” Hinata repeats, his voice an octave higher than normal. He doesn’t loosen his grip on Tobio’s hand.

“I’m pretty sure stomach pains are something you should go to a doctor for,” Tobio tells him, trying his best to sound level and serious. Channelling his inner Tsukishima while internally panicking worse than Asahi can.

Hinata leans more of his weight onto him and whines. He sounds a bit more like his normal self, and the tightness in Tobio’s chest loosens slightly.

“They’ll probably be able to give you some better pain killers,” Tobio points out, “I don’t think that those tablets earlier did jack shit.”

“Maybe they just need some time to work…”

“Yeah, at this point I think we’ve established waiting is not going to make it better.”

“… It is worse,” Hinata agrees eventually, sounding reluctant. He cracks his eyes open to look up at Tobio, and Tobio tries not to focus on how they’re a little red rimmed. “Don’t call an ambulance.”

Tobio scowls down at him, because that’s what he had been thinking of doing, but now Hinata says it out loud it does seem a little excessive. Hinata’s got stomach pains, but he’s not dying. Hopefully. Tobio suppresses a shiver and forcefully chases any morbid thoughts from his mind. “How do we get there then, genius? Don’t suggest the bus.” Bickering feels safe and familiar, and Tobio falls into the old habit gratefully.

Hinata rolls his forehead hard against where it’s leaning against Tobio’s bicep.“Of course not Bakageyama, it’s… I don’t know, super late.”

It _is_ late, Tobio thinks, looking down at his own phone’s clock – getting close to one in the morning, and it really does limit their transport options. “I’ll try my Mum,” he says eventually, though he isn’t hopeful and he clucks his tongue in annoyance when it goes straight to answerphone like he thought it would.

“Taxi?” Hinata offers, before squirming and hissing out a groan between his teeth.

Probably the best option, Tobio thinks, and he’s suddenly thankful he had the foresight to bring his wallet with him when he left the house. It takes a fair bit of googling to find a taxi firm that’s still open, and is willing to send a car to a residential area in the mountains, but eventually Tobio manages to order a car.

“Thanks,” he says into the receiver, and to Hinata, “should be about fifteen minutes.”

Hinata hums against him, but offers no other response. The small amount of liveliness from earlier seems to have dissipated, and he’s gone back to being quiet again, aside from the occasional noise of pain. Tobio never thought he’d say he’d _miss_ Hinata’s usual boisterous loud voice and endless energy, but right now he misses it even more than he’d missed being able to play volleyball for two days when he was seven and had the chickenpox.

Tobio nudges Hinata gently until he sits up and away so that he can stand. His side immediately feels cold with the sudden loss of Hinata’s body heat, and he runs his hand up and down his arm absently.

Flopping against the back of the sofa, Hinata curls his arms around his stomach again and says nothing while Tobio hurries out into the hallway. He fetches his and Hinata’s trainers and grabs Hinata’s volleyball jacket from where it’s hanging on a hook by the door. He’s just shoving his feet into his shoes and checking how much money he has in his wallet when there’s a small, thin cry from the living room.

Tobio skids around the corner to look in with alarm, his wallet in one hand and Hinata’s things in the other. He spots Hinata curled tightly against the arm of the sofa, his head ducked down and hiding his face from view. Tucking his wallet into his pocket, Tobio quickly crosses the room and lays Hinata’s jacket over him like a blanket.

“Hey,” he calls softly, resting a hand on Hinata’s shoulder blade. He can feel the smaller boy trembling beneath his palm. “Get your jacket and shoes on, the car will be here soon.” He tries to inject some authority, some command into his tone to level his voice, to chase away the tremor in it.

Hinata sniffs and lifts his head, meeting Tobio’s gaze with big, watery brown eyes. There are tear tracks streaked down his cheeks and his chin is wobbling, his lips pressed together in a thin line. He doesn’t say anything, just nods his head, once, and a lone stray tear plops onto the sofa cushions.

Tobio’s heart squeezes so hard at the sight he has to draw in a deep breath to soothe the ache. He’s only ever seen Hinata cry in relation to volleyball, when he’s denied the chance to be on the court and play and leap and fly.

Squaring his shoulders, he drags up some courage from deep inside and looks firmly into Hinata’s eyes. “You’re going to be fine,” he says firmly, “we’re gonna go see a doctor, get some medication, and then you’re gonna sleep and then you can practice that shitty emergency set all afternoon tomorrow.”

The tension in Hinata’s lips releases and they curve into a small, sweet smile. “They’re not that bad,” he protests softly. His eyes are still shiny, but they’re warm.

“They’re awful,” Tobio corrects, the corner of his own mouth ticking up in return, “you can’t aim worth a damn.”

Hinata huffs a small, watery laugh as he unfurls into more of a sitting position and lifts his arms obediently as Tobio holds out the jacket for him to slip on.

“I’m fast though,” he says, as Tobio brings him his trainers to pull on. “I’ll get under any ball that you can’t.”

A pair of lights shines through the curtains of the living room window, as a car engine rumbles closer to the house. On the sofa, Tobio’s phone starts vibrating as the taxi driver calls to announce his arrival.

“Yeah,” Tobio agrees as he grips Hinata’s small hands to help pull him to his feet. “You better, because I’ll be waiting.”

Hinata answers his challenge with a grunt as he lets himself be pulled upright, and Tobio curls one hand under his elbow to help steady him as they make their way to the door.

* * *

Their driver was a little perturbed when Tobio gave them their destination, and looked uneasily at Hinata, pale and queasy at Tobio’s side, but relented when Tobio assured him it wasn’t anything to be concerned about.

“Your face scared him,” Hinata had whispered to him when they clambered into the back seats. He had his jacket zipped up all the way and he buried his face into the collar when he slumped against the door. “That’s why he didn’t complain.”

In response, Tobio had just tugged the zipper on his jacket to yank the collar higher and up to Hinata’s forehead in retaliation, earning him a displeased, muffled whine.

The rest of the ride to the hospital is mostly uneventful – Hinata makes a few grunts or whimpers here and there, but mostly he’s quiet, curled up in his seat and resting his forehead on the window. Tobio switches between watching him carefully (in case he looks like he’s about to be sick), and checking his phone. He’s attempted to text both of their parents so someone is aware of what’s going on, but so far he’s had no reply. He’s not really sure the one to his mother has even been delivered if her phone is off.

This late at night there’s no traffic on the roads, making the trip swift and it’s not long before the hospital building looms in the distance

“We’re here,” the driver announces as he pulls into the drop off section of the carpark and Tobio shuffles forward to hand him the fare.

“I coulda got that,” Hinata protests with a pout as Tobio unbuckles both of their seatbelts.

“With what money?” Tobio points out with a snort, before he gets out and rounds the car to help Hinata get out the other side.

The other boy wobbles a little on his feet when he stands, and Tobio grips his arm tightly as the taxi pulls away from them.

“Do you need one of those wheelchair things?” Tobio grunts, looking around as if there would be a line of them conveniently nearby. Like shopping trolleys at supermarkets.

“_No_,” Hinata protests, sounding embarrassed, “just a little… light headed. I feel better now.”

Tobio clucks his tongue but doesn’t push it, slotting his arm around Hinata’s shoulders to steady him as they slowly made their way to the A&E entrance – a pair of large sliding doors about fifty feet away.

The glass doors swoosh open automatically when they arrive, and Tobio guides Hinata to the nearest empty seat he can find, holding his upper arms as the smaller boy slowly lowers himself into the small blue plastic chair.

“Stay there,” he instructs, as he turns to head to the reception desk.

“’m not gonna go anywhere,” Hinata mumbles at his retreating back.

The woman at the desk is polite and business-like when he goes up to her. She slides a clipboard with a piece paper clipped to it when he explains why he’s here and Tobio takes it to see it looks like an admission form. There’s sections for Hinata’s personal details, and the reason why he’s here. He takes it and a pen and heads back to where Hinata is sitting, flopping into the empty seat next to him.

Hinata tilts until his head is resting against Tobio’s shoulder and squints down at the clipboard. “What’s that?”

“The form we have to fill out so they know why you’re here, stupid,” Tobio replies, poking Hinata in the forehead with the end of the pen.

He fills out the form as quickly as he can, prodding Hinata with the pen when he encounters a question he doesn’t know the answer to. For the ‘medical complaint’ section he writes down ‘bad stomach pains’ before adding ‘really’ in front of it. He wonders if that sounds bad enough that Hinata will be seen quickly.

When he hands the form back to the receptionist he tells her, “I’ve trying to call his mother, she’s away, but she’s not answering.”

She nods and smiles at him reassuringly as she takes the clipboard. “I’ll keep trying her,” she promises.

Tobio drops into a small bow in thanks and walks quickly back to Hinata, who is seemingly trying to draw his legs up to curl up in the chair.

“Isn’t that going to make it feel worse?” He wonders as he sits back down, reaching out to place his forearm over Hinata’s knees to stop him from raising them up.

“How can it possibly feel worse?” Hinata whinges, writhing in his seat as he struggles to get comfortable.

“Come here,” Tobio sighs, threading his hand into Hinata’s damp hair. He gently guides his head back onto his shoulder and the other boy eventually slumps against him with a groan, his face turned towards Tobio’s neck. Goosebumps start prickling along Tobio’s throat as Hinata’s breath blows across his skin and he suppresses a shiver.

“Thanks,” Hinata mumbles, “for, you know, all of this.”

“You can buy me a meat bun,” Tobio suggests, “actually, two. That taxi was expensive.”

Hinata hums against him. “A week’s worth of meat buns.”

“Deal,” Tobio agrees, giving into growing temptation and dropping his head against Hinata’s, his eyes drawn to his bright hair. The ginger hair beneath his cheek is darker than usual, the strands darkened by sweat, similar to how it gets after a game in the middle of summer.

Time passes slowly, and Tobio loses count of how many people have been called in since they arrived. It’s Friday night, and the waiting room is full of people, from the drunk to small children with various minor injuries. There’s one horrifying moment when a man strolls in, perfectly calm, with his arm held aloft and his hand wrapped in a cloth absolutely _soaked_ in blood.

“Christ,” Tobio breathes, his stomach flipping at the sight, and he raises a hand to cover Hinata’s eyes so he can’t see. Hinata’s queasy enough as it is right now, and he’s just as squeamish as Tobio is, and no-one wants another puddle of vomit to add to the seven that have appeared in the last hour.

Tobio raises his tired eyes to look at the clock hanging on the opposite wall as the man with the injured hand is swiftly taken into a treatment room. The clock reads just after four in the morning and Tobio groans, contemplating going over to the reception desk and demanding to know how long this is supposed to take. Hinata has been fidgeting against him for ages now, unable to sit still, quiet except for occasional pained whimpers or gasps.

He’s re-reading a poster on heart disease for the fifth time when Hinata suddenly reaches for his wrist and grips it tightly. Tobio jolts at the pressure, alarmed. “Hinata?”

Instead of answering, Hinata lurches forward and stumbles to his feet in one clumsy motion, reaching out with his other hand to lean on the wall behind him to steady himself. His eyes are shut tight, and his face has gone so pale the fluorescent lighting above makes him look almost grey.

“Easy,” Tobio hisses, getting to his own feet quickly and slotting his hands underneath Hinata’s elbows. The tiredness that was prickling at his eyes dissipates as his heart kicks up again in alarm. “What is it?”

“Gonna be sick,” Hinata wheezes, his voice thin and reedy. He wobbles on the spot, before he gags and his head hangs forward, his small hands coming up to grip Tobio’s upper arms. They feel like ice.

“Right. Toilet,” Tobio declares, scanning the room for their location.

Before he can, however, Hinata suddenly lets out a long, loud groan and his hands clench in vices around Tobio’s arms, his breathing suddenly rasping in and out in rough gasps. Panic zips up and down Tobio’s spine and seizes him in place as Hinata’s knees suddenly buckle beneath him. All of his weight slumps against Tobio and it’s only through instinct that Tobio manages to clamp his arms around the other boy’s torso to stop them both crashing to the floor.

Steeling his legs to hold them both upright, Tobio manages to fight past the pressure compressing his throat closed. “Hinata? Shouyou? _Shouyou_!”

Hinata doesn’t answer, remaining boneless against him, small whimpers slipping in between his rough breathing.

“Hey!” Tobio shouts in the direction of the reception desk. The woman from earlier has already spotted them, standing up from her chair, a phone to her ear. “Hey, we need help!”

“_Kageyama_,” Hinata wheezes against him and suddenly Tobio can’t hold them both up anymore, holding the other boy close he lets them both sink down to the floor. There’s a loud chatter of voices around them, from concerned strangers and medical personnel who have started filing into the room in their direction. Tobio tunes them all out, until there’s only his pulse in his ears and Hinata whimpering _“it hurts, it hurts, it hurts.”_

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank-you to everyone who left kudos and such nice comments on part 1 ;_; here's the second half, I hope you enjoy!

Tobio used to think that it wasn’t possible to feel any worse than he did on _that_ day back in middle school. Banished to the bench with a towel over his head in a feeble attempt to block out the continual replay in his mind of his teammates’ backs facing away from him, the ball thudding uselessly to the court floor.

And yet, he would almost rather be experiencing that all over again, than sit in this hard plastic chair in this hospital in the early hours of the morning, waiting for someone to tell him what the hell was going on with Hinata. 

Time had gone so suddenly from moving at a snail’s pace, watching the clock in the waiting room with Hinata pressed against his side, to a dizzying blur as medical personnel had surrounded them. Tobio could barely recall what had been said to him as they approached. All he could he remember was the nurses pulling Hinata from his arms and one of the receptionists tugging him away despite his increasingly loud protests.

He had been bundled into a small room, told to take a seat and wait, and a small paper cup with water pressed into his hands.

_(“No, wait, where’s Hinata? What’s going on?”_

_“Please take a seat, sir, someone will be with you shortly, I promise.”_

_“Where’s_ Hinata?_”_

_“He’s with the doctor, please, take-“_

_“No! I’m not going to- where _is_ he, move please, I want to-“_

_“Sir, please, your friend is in good hands. I promise, someone will come speak with you soon.”_

_“Just take me to-!”_

_The receptionist had closed the door behind her with an apologetic, but firm look, and Tobio had crunched the cup of water in his hand in outrage. The water had spilled over his clenched fingers and down onto the floor, forming a small puddle at his feet. He had flung the soggy remains of the cup at the small bin in the corner and sat heavily in one of the plastic chairs that were in a line along one wall of the room. Resigned to wait.)_

There was nothing else in the room except for a small house plant and a clock, its ticking the only thing filling the silence aside from Tobio’s harsh breathing.

His elbows dug into his knees as he hunched in his seat, hands buried in his hair. The only thing he could stand to look at right now was the vinyl floor at his feet, watching the puddle he’d created earlier slowly shrink as it dried up. Staring at the clock or the door just made time feel like it was crawling by even slower, as he waited desperately for someone to come and tell him everything was fine. That Hinata was fine, he was just being dramatic and Tobio could drag him home and berate him the whole way for keeping him up all night worrying.

Except no-one had come and, judging by the sunlight starting to tickle in through the room’s one solitary window, morning was here. They had to have been with Hinata for at least an hour, Tobio was sure dawn wasn’t breaking when he- when he-

He sucks in a deep breath and pushes off his knees, sitting back until the back of his head thunks against the wall behind him. Pressing the heels of his palms against his eyes, he tries to focus on the light starbursting across his closed eyelids instead of the memory of Hinata slumping against him, shaking and mumbling in pained delirium.

It was insane. Not twenty-four hours ago was he in the volleyball clubroom, willing Hinata to tell him why he wasn’t sure he’d attend the same university, and now he’s in a hospital waiting room waiting for someone to tell him why Hinata has stomach pains so bad he can’t even stand. Tobio sniffs mightily as he feels a tell-tale burning prickle behind his eyelids.

There’s a quiet creak of hinges as the waiting room door opens and a soft voice calls through.

“Hinata Shouyou?”

Tobio’s hands fall away immediately as he stands up so fast the chair below him wobbles dangerously on its feet. He cuffs away one drop of wetness quickly, whirling to face a young man with fair hair standing at the doorway. “Y-yes!”

“Ah, you must be the friend that brought him in,” the man smiles. He’s wearing a nurse’s uniform and he’s holding a clipboard. He gestures to the line of seats, inviting Tobio to sit back down, “please.”

Tobio ignores the invitation, his heart beating so fast in his chest it’s almost painful. “What’s wrong with Hinata?” He demands.

The nurse raises a placating hand as Tobio takes a step towards him. He’s a head shorter than Tobio, but he still somehow manages to radiate authority as he puts his down on Tobio’s upper arm gently. “Relax, your friend is going to be fine, let’s sit down, hmm?”

Tobio’s knees are little shaky as he allows himself to fold back down into the plastic chair. The nurse takes the one next to him, resting his clipboard on his lap. Tobio’s breath shudders in and out as something like relief starts to filter through him. “He’s going to be okay?”

“He’s going to need a procedure, but yes, he’s going to be fine,” the nurse soothes.

“Procedure?” Tobio repeats, feeling a little light headed. What did that mean?

“Yes, see, it turns out your friend has appendicitis. Have you heard of it?”

Tobio shakes his head slowly, confused.

“Well, okay, so at the end of your intestine there’s a little extra part called the appendix,” the nurse explains. He lifts his clipboard and flips to a page to show Tobio – there’s a diagram of a person’s abdominal organs on it, with labels pointing to each part. Pressing the end of a pen against the area labelled ‘appendix’, the nurse goes on, “now, normally, your appendix doesn’t actually do anything. It’s rudimentary.”

“Rudimentary?” Tobio mumbles, his confusion increasing.

“It means it’s… well, pointless,” the nurse explains, “we think it used to do something many, many years ago, but in modern day humans it’s like an extra bit that’s just kind of there. But sometimes, rarely, it can get inflamed.”

Tobio gives a vague little nod. He knows enough about sport injuries to know what ‘inflamed’ means, and he can see why this would lead to Hinata’s stomach hurting, but it doesn’t seem the nurse is finished yet. His brow creases in a scowl.

“Now, it’s a good thing you brought your friend here when you did, because if left for too long, an inflamed appendix can burst.”

Tobio feels faint. “Burst?” He says, loudly, alarmed.

The nurse winces a little, but his expression manages to stay mostly pleasant. “Ah, yes, the appendix is like a pouch, so when it gets really swollen it can-“

“Did his?” Tobio interrupts suddenly, insistently. “E-explode?” He feels a bit sick.

“Nearly!” The nurse replies, sounding entirely too cheerful for Tobio’s taste. “It was starting to but we caught it early enough before it could go fully.”

He must see Tobio’s sudden stricken expression because he puts his clipboard and pen back down and places both of his hands on Tobio’s shoulders. “Kageyama,” he says firmly, but gently, “I already said, didn’t I? That Hinata is going to be fine. He just needs a routine surgery to remove his appendix, called an appendectomy, and he’ll be right as rain.”

_“Surgery?”_

“Yes, perfectly routine, thousands of people have it done every year.” The nurse says, calmly. “He’ll need to stay in for a few days, and-“

“Volleyball,” Tobio interrupts again, as a horrible thought suddenly occurs to him. “He, he plays volleyball. He wants to play professionally, he-“

His words are choked off as his throat constricts as what he’s thinking plays out in his head. Hinata needs _surgery_, does that mean he can’t play volleyball anymore? Tobio doesn’t know, has no idea about these sorts of things, but there’s so many players aren’t there? Who have had to stop playing, because they had injuries, because they had _surgeries._

The image of a Hinata who has to stop playing volleyball, at seventeen, before he could stand on the world stage and say _here I am_, is so violently wrong that it makes Tobio want to scream. Okay, maybe he had been a little selfish, before, in wanting Hinata to stand next to him in volleyball always. But he’ll never question where Hinata wants to go next, ever, even if not with him ever again, if it means Hinata can still _play_.

Tobio’s runaway train of thought is abruptly halted when the nurse squeezes his shoulders and smiles reassuringly at him. “He’ll need to rest for a few weeks, no strenuous exercise, but it won’t stop him playing sports at all, in the future. I promise.”

All of the air in Tobio’s lungs leaves in a sudden whoosh as he exhales roughly, his head hanging in relief.

The nurse chuckles quietly, before standing. “We’ve already spoken to his mother, and she’s on her way, so you should probably call your parents and get them to pick you up. But if that’s not possible I can always arrange for the receptionists to call you a taxi, you wouldn’t have to pay..."

“I can’t stay?” Tobio asks, raising his head.

“It’s gone six in the morning, and from what I’ve been told, you’ve been here nearly all night,” the nurse says gently. “Hinata’s going to be in surgery and recovery for a few hours yet, so you should probably go home and sleep.”

“I’m not-" Tobio starts to say, but the nurse cuts him off.

“You probably don’t feel tired now, wired as you are, but you’re going to crash pretty soon. Seriously, get some sleep, have something to eat, and by the time you’ve done that Hinata should be ready for visitors.” His polite smile widens into more of a grin, “it’s a good thing it’s not a school day, huh?”

That’s right, it’s Saturday now, Tobio realises. They normally have practice on Saturdays so he’d be at school anyway, but this does mean he doesn’t have to explain why he’s missed classes for a day at least. He’s not sure if his mother will be awake this early on weekend if she’s not working, so he’ll probably have to take up the free taxi offer.

“He’s really going to be okay?” He asks again. He feels a little childish, asking for reassurance like this, but the image of Hinata slumped against his chest, white as a sheet, is still very fresh in his mind.

“He’s really going to be okay,” the nurse reaffirms, confidently. “Come on, I’ll take you to the reception desk.”

* * *

They don’t get too far - halfway along the long, white corridor back to the front desk of the emergency department, a woman’s voice calls out.

“Kageyama?”

Tobio turns on his heel, curious.

There’s a woman halfway between stepping out one of the doors along the hallway, a phone pressed to her ear. Behind her, Tobio can just make out some medical equipment along what looks like another hallway.

He doesn’t recognise her. She’s middle-aged, with brown hair and eyes. She doesn’t look like she works here, in normal clothes with no ID tag attached to them.

“Yes?” He replies, tilting his head in confusion.

She smiles suddenly then, and Tobio’s brow knits as he thinks to himself maybe he has seen her somewhere before?

Stepping fully out of the door, she hangs up on whatever call she was making and comes up to him, reaching out to grab his elbow in a warm grip. She’s quite short, barely coming up to his shoulder, despite her modest heels.

“I’m Shouyou’s mother,” she explains, and Tobio suddenly realises why he thought he’d seen her before, even though they haven’t actually met. Her smile is just like her son’s.

“Ah, hello,” he replies, suddenly feeling a little awkward. He’s unsure what to say next, because what he really wants to do is ask about Hinata but he isn’t sure if that’s rude or not.

“Oh good, it is you, I’ve only seen you in pictures, so I wasn’t entirely sure!” She says, sounding relieved. Now she’s closer, Tobio can see that despite her warm smile, her eyes are little bloodshot, the skin around them tight and darkened. She’s probably been crying, he realises.

“Goodness, you are tall,” she continues, her voice resolutely cheerful. “No wonder Shouyou is so jealous.”

The thought of Hinata ranting away to his mother about how tall Tobio is both embarrassing and also very pleasing, in a strange sort of way. He wonders what else Hinata had said about him (and what pictures had she seen?) but he doesn’t think it could have been anything too bad, as Hinata’s mother seems rather happy to see him.

“It’s, uh, nice to meet you,” he offers, eventually remembering his manners and dipping into a small formal bow. “How is Hinata?” He blurts after, unable to hold it in any longer.

Her smile goes a little tighter around the edges, her eyes soft and sad. “He’s okay,” she says, “well, not _okay_, I suppose, but he’s not in any danger. They’ve got him on some medication now so he’s more comfortable. I think they’re just waiting for… everything to be ready.”

She means surgery, he thinks, and his lips purse into a tense line. He wants to ask more, when the door she just came through opens again and a small, orange head pokes out.

“Mum?”

Tobio’s immediate thought is that Hinata has somehow shrunk even further (and okay, yeah, maybe he does need some sleep), before his brain catches up and he realises the small, flame-haired girl before him must be Hinata’s little sister. Hinata had talked about her before, but he didn’t know what she looked like, and Hinata had certainly never mentioned they looked almost identical, obvious age difference aside.

“Natsu, I said to wait,” Hinata’s mother shushes her daughter, smoothing her bright hair away from her forehead.

Natsu doesn’t reply, instead fixing her stare on Tobio. She has the same big brown eyes as her brother. Tobio stares back, unable to think of anything to say. He isn’t good with children.

“Are you Shouyou’s big, scary friend?” Natsu asks after a minute of silent staring.

Well. At least Hinata had referred to him as a friend.

Her mother scolds her softly, struggling to hold back a smile. “Natsu, he isn’t scary.”

“It’s just my face.” He says to her seriously, because this is what Hinata is constantly telling him, and Tobio has learned to accept it at this point.

“Okay,” she agrees easily, appeased, before turning her face to look back up at her mother, pulling at her skirt. “Mum, can I see Shou now? Please?”

Tobio doesn’t really think much of kids, doesn’t find them sweet as others do – mainly they’re just loud and baffling. But right now, he thinks Natsu is cute, asking so earnestly to see her big brother. It must be the resemblance; Tobio’s been on the receiving end of those sticky honey eyes more than once.

Hinata’s mother smiles down at her, reaching for her hand. “Alright, but you have to be quiet, your brother isn’t feeling well, okay?” she says, before turning and looking back at Tobio.

Tobio opens his to mouth to… he doesn’t really know, ask to come with them? Wish Hinata well? He flounders, unsure. He wants to see Hinata too, but he’s fairly sure this is a private affair and this is first time he’s met Hinata’s family, surely he wouldn’t be welcome.

“Would you like to come too, Kageyama?” Hinata’s mother asks, smiling at him.

“Yes,” Tobio blurts immediately, and then when his brain catches up, “if that would be okay.”

“Of course, I’m sure Shouyou would be glad to see you,” she tells him warmly. “But he is a bit drowsy, just so you know. That’s okay, isn’t it?” She directs this last question at the nurse, who is still standing beside Tobio, silent. Tobio had actually forgotten he was there, and starts a little.

The nurse looks a little surprised, but then smiles. “Sure,” he says after a moment. “I’ll give reception your name, if you still need a taxi afterwards,” he says to Tobio, and ducks his head politely to both of them before trotting off down the hall.

“Taxi?” Hinata’s mother asks.

“To, uh, get home,” Tobio explains, “my mother normally switches her phone off overnight and it’s probably too early for her to be up yet…”

“Ah, I see, well not to worry! We drove here, so I’m happy to drop you off later.” She says brightly, turning to the door she came through and holding it open for Natsu to go on ahead of her.

“I wouldn’t want to impose…” Tobio starts to say, following her through the door.

“Don’t be silly, it’s the least I can do, and it would take my mind off of things while Shouyou is… under.” Her smile goes tight again. “The surgeon said it could be an hour or two, so, it beats clock watching.”

Tobio definitely understands that – he has spent too many of the last few hours staring at a clock’s hands ticking by.

Hinata’s mother leads them through another door and then they’re in some kind of ward, with a few beds on either side of the room. Some have people on, some empty, and there’s a few nurses bustling around, tending to the patients or fiddling with equipment. It’s busy, but not frantic. Tobio presumes all of the people here are stable, and waiting further treatment.

At the end of the room, one of the beds has a pale green curtain pulled around it. Hinata’s mother reaches out to tug it back a little, sticking her head around it. Tobio doesn’t catch what she says, but then she’s pulling the curtain back more, until it reveals Hinata himself, on the bed.

Hinata’s awake, but he seems very sleepy, blinking balefully up them as his mother pulls the curtain all the way around the railing above. He’s been changed out of his clothes and into a hospital gown, and there’s a thin line of tubing going from a bag on a hook above him into the crook of his elbow.

Some of the tightness that's been constricting his chest ever since Hinata had been torn away from him in the waiting room eases a bit as Tobio lays eyes on him again. Even his knees tremble a little as relief sweeps him from head to toe. Hinata is still very pale, and definitely not entirely with it, but even this is infinitely better than seeing him in so much pain he couldn’t stand, crying out into Tobio’s jumper.

“Shou!” Natsu cheers, definitely too loudly, and immediately tries to clamber onto the bed.

“Natsu, what did I say?” Her mother tsks, winding her arms around her daugher’s middle to stop her leaping onto the bedsheets. She sits on a chair next to the bed, wrestling Natsu to sit on her lap, giving her a stern look when she starts to whine.

Hinata seemingly ignores his sister’s antics, finally dragging his eyes up to meet Tobio’s, blinking at him slowly. His eyes are a little unfocused, but he seems to recognise him, as his face scrunches up in confusion. “Kageyama?” He murmurs, voice thick and a little slurred, but clear enough. “Why’re you…” he trails off, and Tobio can almost see the gears straining to turn in his head. “Weren’t we watching Family Fortune?” He sounds very confused.

Tobio snorts, because of course of all the things for Hinata to remember it’s the stupid gameshow that was on tv. “That was hours ago, but yeah,” he says, and he can’t help but reach out to cuff the other boy lightly over the head, sinking his fingers into his hair after. It’s still a little damp.

Hinata hums, closing his eyes for a long moment and scrunching up his nose. “And… now we’re here.”

“And now we’re here,” Tobio agrees, softly. He’s very aware of Hinata’s mother sitting next to them.

“We’re going to be very late to practice,” Hinata says solemnly.

“We’re probably going to miss it entirely.”

“Fuck,” Hinata says, gravely, and Tobio struggles to smother a small burst of laughter.

Hinata’s mother claps her hands over Natsu’s ears a little too late, and the little girl shrieks with laughter at her brother’s language. Apparently, drugged Hinata doesn’t have the same reservations about cursing as he does while sober.

“And, as usual, it’s your fault,” Tobio tells him once he’s composed himself.

Hinata squawks in protest, but it’s almost muted compared to his normal volume, more of a high-pitched whine than anything else. Tobio rakes his fingers through Hinata’s hair to quieten him. Out of the corner of his eye, he notices a woman approaching in pale green scrubs (a doctor, maybe?) and bending down to speak with Hinata’s mother in low tones. It’s probably time for Hinata’s surgery. Tobio’s heart flips over at the thought.

“I’m sleepy,” Hinata mumbles, turning his head to mash his face into his pillow. “Do you think Coach will mind if we’re late?”

Hinata’s mother has stood from her chair, holding onto Natsu’s hand while she converses with the doctor.

Taking the chance while he has it, before Hinata is wheeled away and while everyone else is distracted, Tobio bends down to press his forehead against Hinata’s. It’s not entirely pleasant - Hinata’s skin is clammy beneath his, the angle is causing a muscle in Tobio’s back to twinge and both of them have to cross their eyes a little to maintain eye contact, but right now Tobio just needs this brief closeness.

“You’re going to be fine,” he says firmly, meaning the words for both himself and Hinata equally. “And then when you wake up the most important thing to remember is that you owe me a week’s worth of meat buns.”

“Do I?” Hinata wonders. Tobio can feel him frowning against his forehead.

“You promised.”

“Hmm, okay,” Hinata hums agreeably, “if I promised.”

Tobio drags in a deep breath through his nose, inhaling the scent of Hinata’s sweaty hair and disinfectant. It’s not as unpleasant as it probably should have been. Steeling himself, he pulls away from Hinata, slowly removing his hand from his hair.

Hinata’s looking up at him with a small smile on his face, warm and affectionate despite how he must be feeling otherwise. Tobio can’t match it, he’s never been able to muster up a smile like that, on command, and so instead he opts for holding Hinata’s gaze and giving him a singular nod. It feels paltry, but Hinata’s always understood.

He turns away then, breaking eye contact, before it becomes too difficult to, and a nurse guides him away gently by the elbow as Hinata’s mother steps to her son’s side to press a kiss to his forehead.

Tobio’s throat starts constricting again, and he squeezes his eyes shut, shoving his shaking hands into his pockets and curling them into fists.

A small hand tugs at Tobio’s trouserleg, then, by his knee. He forces one eye open to squint down, to find Natsu peering up at him.

“I know you said you have a scary face,” she says, her voice quiet for the first time that morning, “but I think it just looks sad now.”

Tobio’s throat is too tight to reply, and he can’t manage much more than a croak.

“I think Mum’s sad too,” Natsu continues, seriously, “but you shouldn’t be, because the doctor lady said Shou’s going to be okay again when he wakes up, and I think he would like it better if we were happy when he does.”

Tobio takes one hand out of his pocket and nudges Natsu’s tiny fingers with his much larger ones. She curls her hand around his immediately.

“Alright,” He murmurs.

* * *

As promised, Hinata’s mother drives him home, despite Tobio insisting again he could get a taxi. The hospital isn’t too far from his house, and the weekend means less traffic, especially this early in the morning, so Tobio tries not to feel too guilty about the lift.

Natsu is quiet in the backseat, staring out of the window, and the only noise is the radio station on a low volume.

“Thank-you,” Hinata’s mother says suddenly into the quiet as they pause at a red light.

“Hmm?”

“For being there for Shouyou, for taking him to the hospital,” she says. Her eyes are fixed on the road ahead of her, but they look faraway, seeing something else entirely. “That was a lot of responsibility, making sure he was okay. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there, I know I should’ve been, I…” she grips the steering wheel hard as the lights change to green and she pulls away. “I don’t want to think about what might’ve happened if he was on his own, so, thank-you. Shouyou’s really lucky to have you as a friend.”

Tobio’s mouth works, but nothing comes out, feeling faintly stunned. He doesn’t think anyone’s thanked him for being a friend, ever. “I’m lucky too,” he mumbles eventually, and immediately flushes. His brain is apparently too tired to filter his words properly anymore, and he turns his face to look out of the window so Hinata’s mother can’t see the lurid shade of red he’s inevitably turned.

Thankfully, she doesn’t comment, just reaches over to pat the back of his hand as they pull into Tobio’s street.

Jamming his keys into the front door, Tobio finally feels exhaustion start to sink its claws in as he shuffles through the door and toes off his shoes. “I’m home,” he calls, before breaking off into a loud yawn. He presses his palms into his eyes as he pads down the hallway and almost runs straight into his mother coming out of the kitchen. It doesn’t look as though she’s been up long – Tobio can smell the tea she’s just brewed.

“Welcome back,” she says, smiling at him, “did you have fun at your friend’s?” She sounds hopeful.

“I…” Tobio starts, but his voice cracks and he closes his mouth. Because he knows why his mother sounds like that, because he hasn’t spent the night round a friend’s house since he was very small and sleepovers consisted of everyone in your class. And he knows his mother has been worried about how despite spending most of his time on a team sport for years he’s only now just starting to make friends.

She frowns when she takes in his expression. “Tobio?” She asks, her voice soft, concerned.

“Hinata, he- he needs to have surgery,” Tobio manages. “Now he’s, they’re…” he can’t finish.

His mother’s eyes widen and he’s aware, vaguely, of her taking his hands in her much smaller ones and leading him into the kitchen. She takes him to the table and makes him sit, and there’s a long couple of minutes where it’s just the sound of his rough breathing and the gurgle of hot water. He’s resolutely not crying, but his eyes are stinging and his hands are shaking just slightly when his mother presses a cup of tea into his hands.

She takes the chair next to him and runs her fingers through his hair. “Tell me what happened.”

So he does, haltingly at first, but then steadily gaining speed, until he’s recalled everything that’s happened since afternoon practice. He skips the parts about the morning’s conversation about university and where he was waiting around to talk to Hinata all day, because it feels childish.

“So he’s probably…” he pauses and takes a swig of tea, “probably having surgery now.”

His mother curls one hand around his wrist. She’s been quiet during the whole of his retelling. “I’m really sorry Tobio,” she starts to say, rubbing her thumb along his skin, “I should have had my phone on, you shouldn’t have had to deal with that by yourself.”

“It’s fine,” he mumbles into his tea. He can’t be annoyed at her for switching her phone off, because he himself is just as bad at using his phone sometimes.

“But,” she goes on, “I am _really_ proud of you.”

He frowns, confused, and drags his gaze from his mug to meet her eyes. She’s got the same smile on her face as she does whenever he tells her about achieving something in volleyball.

“It should’ve been an adult, but you did everything right. You made sure your friend wasn’t alone and got help. I know it’s scary that he’s in the hospital and that he needs surgery. But he’s in good hands and he’s going to be just fine.”

Tobio tightens his grip on his mug and has to take a few measured breaths. He really does not want the wetness building in the corner of his eyes to spill over.

“Hinata is… your partner right? The small, fast one that can hit all your best tosses?”

The corner of Tobio’s mouth twitches slightly. _Small fast one_. “That’s him.”

“Well, from what I hear he’s got even more determination than you do, so I’m confident he’ll be okay.”

“From what you hear?”

“He’s your best friend, isn’t he? You talk about him more than you realise, I think.” His mother says, giving his hand a fond pat and standing. “Now, you’ve been up all night and quite frankly you look awful, so do you want something to eat first or just go straight to bed?”

Tobio doesn’t think he can handle food right now, with his stomach still tied up in nervous knots. He finishes the last of his tea as his mind circles on his mother’s declaration that Hinata’s his best friend. She’s… not wrong, he supposes. Hinata is certainly his closest friend. He’s just never really thought of him that way before. Somehow it doesn’t feel quite… adequate.

“I’m just going to go to bed,” Tobio decides when the tea is all gone, putting his mug down on the table and rubbing his eyes. He can feel his eyelids starting to droop.

“Alright. Do you want me to hold onto your phone in case the hospital calls?”

Tobio ends up giving her Hinata’s mother’s number instead. He had added it to his phone on the drive here and she had promised to call him as soon as she had news. He expects he’s going to get a few messages from the team over the next few hours when he and Hinata inevitably don’t show up for practice and he’d rather his mother not have to sift through all of those. Tanaka and Nishinoya are definitely going to send about twenty each.

He trudges up the stairs to his room and he can only just manage to kick off enough clothing to leave himself in a t-shirt and underwear before deciding that was good enough and flopping into bed. He’s just starting to crawl under the duvet when his phone starts vibrating on his desk. Grabbing it quickly, because what if it’s about Hinata, he checks the screen and sees Coach’s name lighting up the caller ID. Practice must have already started, though he has no idea what time it is.

Tobio contemplates leaving it, but telling Ukai about what’s happened is probably the fastest way to get the message around and pre-emptively stop his phone going off constantly for the next hour.

“Kageyama?” Coach says immediately when Tobio takes the call. “Are you okay? Don’t tell me both you and Hinata have this sickness thing…”

“Hinata’s having surgery.” Tobio says, to the point, voice surprisingly level. He doesn't think he can bring himself to explain the whole story again. Yawning, he arranges himself in bed, dragging his duvet over himself and lying on his side so his pillow isn’t muffling his voice. It almost sounds like a normal thing to say now, 'Hinata's having surgery', he’s said so many times in the last hour. Hopefully he’s becoming desensitised to it.

“He’s _what!_” Coach shouts, and Tobio has to pull the phone away from his ear at the volume. “What do you mean he’s having surgery? What the hell happened, where are you?”

“He’s got appendi… appen-something,” Tobio tells him. He doesn’t have the energy to remember the whole word.

“Appendicitis?”

“Yeah.”

“Jesus Christ.”

“… Yeah.”

“You okay?”

Tobio frowns at this. Not ‘is Hinata okay?’ but is _he_ okay? “I… don’t know,” he answers honestly. He’s so tired everything’s starting to feel sort of muted now, but equally he’s felt worryingly close to tears almost all morning and if he starts thinking about it all too deeply that dam might just break.

“Let me guess, from how you sound you’ve been with him all night, yeah?” Coach asks, and Tobio doesn’t have time to answer before he continues on, “look, I had my appendix out in college. So I know first-hand how dramatic and scary it seems, but as someone who’s had it done, I’m telling you Hinata is going to be just fine. A pain in the ass once he wakes up and he finds out he can’t run around for a week, but he’s going to be fine.”

“Okay,” Tobio croaks.

He’s been told this a lot now, so it must be true, right?

“Where are you now?”

“Home.”

“Okay… okay, good. Your only job for today is to sleep and eat. No practice.” Coach’s voice is firm. “You wouldn’t be able to concentrate. I won’t ask you for details, I’m sure Takeda is going to get them all from Hinata’s parents soon anyway. But I expect you to work extra hard when you’re back, alright?”

In truth, Tobio wasn’t thinking about attending practice today at all, fully intending to see Hinata later as soon as he was awake. It’s probably the first time in his life he’s ever willingly chosen to skip practice.

“Yes, Coach.”

“Good, now get some sleep.”

Tobio disconnects the call and lazily flings his phone back onto his desk. Pulling his covers over his head, he buries his face into his pillow and determinedly thinks of the motions of a jump serve to lull himself to sleep.

It doesn’t even take two minutes.

Sunlight is streaming in through his bedroom window when consciousness returns to him. With a groan, he rolls over onto his back and rubs his hands down his face. He feels less sleepy, but still like he’s been hit by a truck – achey and sluggish. Reaching for his phone, he flips it open to see that it’s now well into the early afternoon.

Sitting up in bed, suddenly feeling more alert, he checks his messages fervently. Hinata must be out of surgery by now?

There’s quite a lot from his team mates, most of them asking where he is, and the group chat has a lot of notifications but he skips them. Coach probably told them all what was going on and he doesn’t have time to reply to everyone individually.

(It’s nice though, that everyone wondered where he was. There’s even a message from Tsukishima.)

He scrolls through everything, but there’s nothing from Hinata’s mother. The only missed call he has is from Ennoshita, shortly after when Coach had rung. Presumably checking his whereabouts before everyone was updated.

“Ah, good, you’re awake. I was wondering if I would have to come and wake you up.”

Tobio looks up to see his mother standing in his doorway.

“Hinata’s Mum called, he’s been in recovery for… probably a couple of hours now.”

“What!” Tobio exclaims, fighting with his duvet before flinging it off and tumbling ungracefully out of bed. “Why didn’t you come and-“

His mother holds up her hands, “because you needed to sleep, and Hinata wouldn’t be ready for visitors for a while anyway. It takes a while to come round from an anaesthetic.”

“Is he…?”

She picks her way across his room (he might need to tidy up a bit), and smooths her hands along his upper arms. “He’s just fine. Everything went well. He needs to stay in for a couple of days but then he can go home. On bedrest though, so you can’t drag him out to play.”

“I wouldn’t…” Tobio starts, but he aborts the sentence as relief washes over him so strongly he nearly needs to sit back down on the bed. Hinata’s fine. He’s okay. “When can I…?”

“Now should be okay,” his mother replies, picking up on what he’s asking. “You need to get ready first, and eat something, and then we can go. I’ll take you.”

Tobio can only manage a nod. It feels like a balloon is swelling up in his chest, but it’s a nice feeling. Light and airy. He wants to deny needing food in order to get there quicker but his stomach is starting to make its complaints at being empty for so long.

He’s shovelling rice down not fifteen minutes later, after a lightning-fast shower, and scrolling through his messages just in case there’s anything important that he’s missed. He briefly checks the group chat but there’s so many messages (mainly well wishes for Hinata to read) that he closes it. Most of them don’t really need a reply to, but there’s one that catches his attention.

**Daichi S (Captain): (9:20am)**

_Heard through the grapevine about Hinata. You know better than anyone how resilient he is so you don’t need me to tell you he’s going to be just fine. Make sure you take care of yourself too, you won’t stop being amazing if you don’t practice for one day. If you need anything, just call – Daichi._

A small, wobbly smile works its way over Tobio’s face. He really does miss Daichi.

“Ready to go?” His mother calls as he taps out a brief thanks in reply, and he nods as he finishes the last of his milk.

* * *

“I’ll have my phone on, I promise, so just call me when you’re done,” his mother tells him as she drops him off at the hospital. “I hope your friend is feeling better.”

“Thanks,” Tobio mumbles, ducking his head as she reaches through the car window to run her fingers through his hair. She keeps forgetting how tall he is now.

He raises a hand in farewell as she pulls away and heads into the main hospital building. He has to ask for directions a few times for the ward and room number Hinata’s mother had sent him, but eventually he ends up outside a door with Hinata’s name scrawled in pen on a plaque. Heaving in a deep breath, he raises his fist to knock at the door, waiting for the muffled ‘come in!’ before turning the handle.

The room is small, big enough for only one bed, a couple of chairs and a smattering of medical equipment. As a pleasant surprise, only Hinata himself is in the room, propped up in bed with a small mountain of pillows. He’s still in a medical gown, and the drip line is still in place, but some of the colour has returned to his cheeks and his eyes are blessedly clear and sharp as they focus on Tobio.

“Kageyama!” Hinata cheers, a wide grin splitting his face. He puts down the 3DS he was apparently playing and attempts to shuffle into more of a sitting position. Immediately he winces, and freezes in place with a tiny grunt.

“_Dumbass_,” Tobio growls, stomping over, dumping his bag on one of the chairs and pressing a hand on Hinata’s shoulder. “Why are you moving? You’ve just had surgery!”

“I forgot,” Hinata whines. The tension in his face drains quickly though, and he blows out a breath, ruffling his fringe. His hair looks fluffier than the last time Tobio saw it. He wonders if it’s been washed.

Tobio’s fingers tighten a little on Hinata’s shoulder, digging into the firm muscle there. “Idiot. How are you feeling?” He asks, lowly.

“_So_ much better,” Hinata replies, tilting his head up and smiling at Tobio. It’s the soft one, the one that makes his eyes do the sticky-honey-thing and causes Tobio’s stomach to flip. “A bit sore, but compared to last night I feel amazing!”

Some of the stiffness in Tobio’s shoulders eases and he releases a small breath. The other boy really does look a lot better. It’s clear he’s not feeling a hundred percent – he still looks tired, like he does after a big match has ended, but he’s lucid and chatty and borderline loud. He looks more like himself than he did all day yesterday and Tobio can feel the heavy pressure that’s been on his chest for the past two days start to ease.

Hinata reaches up and tugs on Tobio’s sleeve, “sit down,” he says, the smile on his face morphing into more of a teasing one. “You’re going to give the nurses a fright if they see you looming over me like that!”

Tobio scowls and plops down heavily in the other chair his bag isn’t currently occupying. “Where’s your Mum?” He asks mulishly, noting that his bag is the only one in the room.

“She’s taking Natsu for something to eat,” Hinata replies, a bit of a pout forming. “Apparently I have to stick to hospital food.”

“Well, yeah, your stomach exploded. Of course you can’t eat normal food, dummy.”

“_Kageyama_! Don’t say things like that! And it wasn’t my stomach anyway, it was my appen- appendicticus, app….”

“Appendix,” Tobio corrects, poking Hinata in the forehead.

Hinata swats his hand away irritably. “Whatever! The doctor said apparently loads of people have theirs taken out and they’re all fine.”

“Of course they are,” Tobio agrees. He’s feeling almost cheerful now, bickering with Hinata like this. “Coach said he had his taken out when he was in college.”

“Did he?” Hinata asks, eyes wide. “That’s… good!”

Tobio raises an eyebrow. “Is it?”

“Yeah! Now I know it won’t affect volleyball!”

Tobio would mock him for that, but he knows if their positions were reversed that his ability to play volleyball would be the first thing on his mind too. They’re the same in that way. Hell, Hinata not being able to play anymore was the first thing Tobio was frightened of too, when the nurse told him what was wrong.

“The doctor said I need to rest though,” Hinata continues, frowning up at the ceiling. “For at least _two weeks_, Kageyama, can you believe it?”

“Yes,” Tobio says blandly, “you had surgery.”

Hinata turns his gaze from the ceiling to look at him. He looks very betrayed. “But what about Nationals?”

“Are still months away, dumbass, you’re going to be fine. You have to be at your best, don’t you?” He fixes Hinata with a cold, challenging stare. Hinata’s shoulders tense a little in retaliation. “We’re going to win it all this year, right? So that means you can’t fuck anything up by not taking care of yourself now. You _know_ this.”

Hinata is silent for a long moment, but his eyes are bright and determined, so Tobio knows he’s not upset. Eventually, a smirk winds its way across his face. “Win it all, huh?”

“Obviously.”

Hinata grins. “I can’t wait to play against so many people again… and all the people we haven’t! Ahh, it’s going to be so good… how was practice anyway?”

“I… didn’t go?”

“Huh?” Hinata squawks, reflexively trying to sit up again in his shock, and Tobio lurches from his seat to press back down on his shoulder when Hinata hisses, pushing him back into the pillows.

“_Careful_,” Tobio mutters, “what did I just-“

“You missed practice?” Hinata interrupts, staring up at him. From where Tobio’s standing and leaning over him, they’re quite close. Tobio can just about make out the small dusting of freckles over the bridge of his nose. (They’re more prominent in summer when Hinata spends a lot of time outside in the sun, and Tobio kind of misses them when they fade.) “_You_. Missed practice.”

“I was sleeping!” Tobio protests, defensive under what feels like an accusation. “I was up all night here with you, dumbass!”

Hinata doesn’t reply right away, just stares up at Tobio with his stupidly big brown eyes. They’re bright and shiny – it’s that same look he gets when he sees something particularly inspiring. Tobio feels a lump starting to form in his throat. He can’t help it, there’s just something about Hinata’s eyes that just _gets_ to him.

“You were, weren’t you?” Hinata says, very softly. It would be a whisper, if he was capable of it.

“Yeah,” Tobio breathes. They’re still very close.

Hinata presses his lips together in a wobbly line, and his eyes go even shinier. He looks almost upset. The lump in Tobio’s throat gets larger – did he overstep? But then Hinata is trying to shuffle back up his pillows again, reaching up with both arms to grab at Tobio’s shirt around his shoulders.

“Hinata, what?” Tobio mumbles, and then “what are you- stop it, you’re going to hurt yourself,” as Hinata starts grunting again with the effort.

Hinata doesn’t stop though, “just- come _here_, you big idiot,” he huffs, winding his small hands in Tobio’s shirt and tugging him down.

Tobio bends further down obediently, baffled. Hinata’s arms wind around his shoulders and behind his neck, his small hands clutching at his shirt. The angle isn’t great, but Hinata manages to bury his face in the space between Tobio’s neck and his shoulder all the same.

_He’s hugging me_, Tobio realises with a sudden jolt. His little friend has always been tactile, but the most affectionate he’s been with Tobio has been limited to pats and highfives. They’ve never actually hugged before. Swallowing, Tobio raises his arms slowly and winds them around Hinata the best he can with the pillows in the way. Hesitantly, he presses his nose into Hinata’s soft hair, a cloud of orange filling his vision. Hinata hums happily against him, and Tobio is encouraged to lift the other boy up, gently, so he can hold him a bit easier.

Holding Hinata close like this, Tobio can really… _appreciate_ how sturdy the redhead is now. Not that he’s not already noticed – they still roughhouse plenty and Tobio can’t help a wandering eye every now and then in the baths during training camps (though he always looks away immediately once he realises what he’s doing.) Hinata is still small, especially compared to Tobio, but he definitely isn’t scrawny. Vigorous exercise every day for almost two years had done wonders for him – and his back muscles underneath Tobio’s hands are strong and firm.

“Thanks,” Hinata says suddenly then, jolting Tobio violently from his train of thought.

“Huh?” He says intelligently, lifting his face from Hinata’s hair. The other boy is still holding onto him tightly, though, so keeps the rest of himself still.

“For last night! Everything!” Hinata says emphatically, muffled slightly from where his face is pressed into Tobio’s neck. (Tobio has to repress a shiver.) “You… you were here _all night_ and if you weren’t I… I would be…” He trails off.

Tobio tightens his hold, just a little. “You’re fine,” he says gruffly.

“Hmm, I am,” Hinata agrees. He’s quiet again for a long moment before, “thank-you, Kageyama.”

Tobio extracts himself from the hug, suddenly needing some distance before his heart swells its way out of his ribcage. “Don’t mention it,” he says roughly, sitting back down on his chair before he can do anything embarrassing. “Don’t forget you-“

“Owe you food?” Hinata finishes, grinning and settling back against his pillows. “Don’t worry, ‘Yama, I won’t forget to feed you.”

Tobio hunches his shoulders as his cheeks colour. “Good,” he grunts as Hinata cackles.

* * *

“But what if I threw one in every now and then? Y’know, like a surprise?”

“That would still mean having to practice to get it right, and do we really have the time?”

“I bet I could do it!”

“Hinata, you’re on bedrest.”

“Only for two weeks, we’ve already covered this.”

Tobio sighs. They’re discussing Hinata’s serve, or rather, whether Hinata should be adding a jump serve to his repertoire. Surprisingly, it had been Hinata who had asked Tobio for his opinion on it, and here they are. Although the other boy is pretty good at listening to what Tobio has to say when he offers advice, he doesn’t normally approach Tobio outright for his thoughts on how he should be playing. Probably because that would be admitting Tobio has more knowledge, which always tends to rile Hinata up a bit.

He enjoys it, honestly, discussing volleyball with Hinata like this. He loves competing with him, the endless high of trying to out-do him on the court, but he there’s something about just talking strategy like this that fills him with its own kind of giddy thrill.

“I thought we agreed we’d scrap the jump serve so you could save energy?” Tobio points out, again.

They were both in a conundrum as to whether Hinata adding in a jump serve would be worth it. It would definitely be better than the standard serve, but it’s also much harder to aim and Hinata has only recently just mastered getting the ball to land where he wants it when he’s got two feet on the ground. There’s also the added factor of it needing yet another run-and-jump and if last year has taught them both anything, it’s that big matches on the national level get tiring. Hinata runs and jumps more than the players on both teams combined, is it worth him making his serve even more energy consuming just so it can be a little more powerful?

“I don’t serve that often though, Coach likes to sub in the pinch servers when it’s my turn,” Hinata says, tapping his chin.

“Okay, we are not going to scrap that strategy though, that actually works and-“

“No, no, I mean _because_ I don’t serve much it wouldn’t be too tiring? I don’t serve in every rotation like you do. I could do a couple at the beginning or something before Coach wants the jump floaters.”

“There’s still the fact you really don’t have a lot of time to learn it.”

“Then what about next year! You can teach me, right?” Hinata needles, “come on, you love showing off.”

Tobio smashes his hand against Hinata’s cheek with growl. The redhead just giggles.

He’s about to retort when his phone starts buzzing in his bag. He gives Hinata’s cheek one final prod for good measure before fetching it, flipping it open to find a message from Hinata’s mother. He raises an eyebrow as reads it.

“Who is it?” Hinata asks curiously, trying to peer over his shoulder without actually moving from his spot on the bed.

“Your Mum.”

“Why’s she texting _you?_”

“Because you don’t have your phone?”

“Oh, yeah. What’d she say?”

“She said she’s finding a babysitter for Natsu for the evening and then she’ll be back,” Tobio summarises, “and if you want her to bring anything else from home, other than your phone.”

“Food,” Hinata says wistfully. A nurse had brought him something resembling lunch about half an hour ago and Tobio was honestly impressed Hinata had managed to eat as much of it as he had. “But no, I’m good.”

Tobio is tapping out a reply when Hinata speaks up again, “hey, Kageyama?” He sounds almost hesitant.

“Hmm?”

“Are you heading back too? I mean you must be hungry and-“

“I can get something from the cafeteria.” Tobio cuts him off. Hinata is plucking at his bedsheets and looking at him like he did last night, when he was saying Tobio didn’t have to leave if he doesn’t want to, asking him to stay without actually saying the words. “I think they have actual human food there at least.”

“Ah, okay!” Hinata beams. “Get me something?” He asks hopefully.

Tobio gives him a withering look, and his phone buzzes again. He checks it, expecting a reply from Hinata’s mother and instead finding a message from Tanaka.

**Tanaka R: (4:13pm)**

_Please inform Hinata that he’s not allowed to use his cool new scar to woo the ladies until me and Noya have graduated._

Tobio snickers, imaging Tanaka halting practice to text this immediately as he realised this grave turn of events. He turns his phone to show the message to Hinata, who is wiggling impatiently next to him.

“Uwoooh I get a cool scar!” Hinata enthuses. Apparently this has only just occurred to him. “Hey, Kageyama, do you think it’ll be a big one?”

“How would I know?” Tobio says.

“Maybe I should ask Tsukishima…”

His phone buzzes again.

**Tanaka R: (4:17pm)**

_Noya would like me to add ‘and the boys’, for the sake of fairness. _

Tobio spends an indeterminate of time staring at that message, his mind whirling at the various things it implied. A sharp hiss brings him back to reality and he jerks his head up to find Hinata has pushed aside his blanket and his trying to peek through the gap in the hospital gown where it’s tied at his side without actually moving his torso too much.

“Dumbass, what are you doing.”

“I’m trying to see how big it is!” Hinata says, giving up on that angle and trying to look down his collar instead, pulling the gown out and folding his chin to his chest.

“Won’t there be a… a bandage or something on it?” Tobio says vaguely. He’s become incredibly distracted by the sudden reveal of Hinata’s bare thighs. The gown only covers the tops of them, and Hinata’s not wearing any bottoms. It’s ridiculous, really, because Hinata spends approximately ninety percent of his time in shorts, even in winter, but Tobio doesn’t really have time to look at Hinata’s legs because they’re always in a blur with his constant movement. But for once they’re still and Tobio can ogle for a bit. They’re really… nice. And stuff.

Hinata lifts his face from the neckhole of his gown with a pop. “Oh, uh, maybe?” He runs his fingers gingerly over his right side, then retracts them quickly with a sharp hiss.

“Okay, that’s enough of that,” Tobio says sternly, reaching over and tugging Hinata’s blanket back up, his legs and lower torso covered once again. (_Alas_, he thinks, and he hopes Hinata mistakes the redness in his face for annoyance.) “You’re going to end up in the hospital for weeks at this rate.”

“Nooo… Yamayama, don’t say that!”

* * *

Hinata’s mother comes back for a short while soon after, delivering Hinata his phone and having also brought a few magazines. There’s the expected sports issues and also the standard gossip affair, which Tobio assumes is for her, unless Hinata has a rampant interest in the sordid goings-on of actors that he didn’t know about it.

Hinata is soon happily tapping away on his phone, replying to the no doubt dozens of messages he must have received as his mother flips through a magazine idly. Tobio decides to take this opportunity to go the cafeteria and get some food. His mother didn’t say he had to be back for dinner, so he might as well take advantage to stay here as long as he can.

“I might head back when you’re done,” Hinata’s mother speaks up as he stands to head out. (Hinata is giving him the sticky toffee eyes, begging for food like a stray dog. Tobio is ignoring him.) “I could only get the neighbours to watch Natsu for a couple of hours at such short notice, so I have to go back and relieve them. And then probably get some things for overnight…”

“I’ll be okay Mum!” Hinata tells her, dragging his gaze away from Tobio after admitting defeat. “Kageyama’s here, you and Natsu can just come back in the morning.”

Tobio isn’t sure he’s allowed to stay overnight, but he keeps quiet anyway.

“I don’t think Kageyama can stay, Shouyou…”

“Aww! Really? But... anyway, I’ll be asleep so I’ll be okay! I don’t think there’s enough room here for three of us…”

“I’m sure the hospital has accommodations…”

“Mum, I’ll be _fine!_”

Tobio takes this moment to slip out, feeling a little bit awkward at being in the middle of this conversation.

It takes far longer than he feels is necessary, finding the cafeteria. The hospital’s signs aren’t the clearest, and he has to ask for directions again once he finds himself walking past the radiography department (whatever that is) three times.

The food served isn’t great, just basic bentos and warmed-up affair that’s quick and easy to serve. He ends up choosing something he can take back to the room with him, not wanting to sit in a crowded cafeteria full of concerned and upset relatives. After a moment’s hesitation, he gives in and buys a small bun for Hinata. It looks bland enough, and hopefully his stomach can handle it.

Hinata’s mother meets him by the door when he gets back, her bag on her shoulder.

“I’m heading off now. I’ll have my phone if you need anything, and I’ll be back in the morning if Shouyou wants anything else from home,” she tells him. “Don’t feel you have to stay too long, but I’m sure he’ll start to nod off soon… it’s been a long day.”

Tobio regards her carefully – she seems happier than she did this morning, but she still looks very tired. He’s glad Hinata has seemingly convinced her to go home, it looks like she could use a good night’s sleep. “I’ll make sure he rests,” he promises.

“Thank-you,” she says earnestly, patting his shoulder. “You’re a sweet boy, Kageyama.”

He can’t but stare at her, bewildered. No-one has ever described him as _sweet_. Well not past the age of four, anyway.

He’s still in a little bit of shock when he sits back down in what’s becoming ‘his chair’ by Hinata’s bedside, and it’s only when Hinata tries to swipe some of his dinner that he jolts out of it.

“Oh my God, stop. Look I brought you a bun, will you stop imitating sea gull?” He grouches, holding his bento with one hand high out of Hinata’s reach and brandishing the packaged bun with the other.

Hinata cheers immediately, grabbing the bun. Tobio holds onto it with a vicegrip. “Eat it _slowly_,” he instructs. It sounds more like a threat.

“I will, I will, thank-you Kageyama!” Hinata babbles, ripping into his treat as soon as Tobio lets go.

Tobio watches him warily for a moment, ascertaining that Hinata is not going to, in fact, tear into it immediately. Satisfied that the redhead isn’t going to inhale his food and choke, he digs into his own dinner in silence.

The food finished and the rubbish stuffed into the room’s tiny bin, Tobio shuffles his chair closer to Hinata’s bedside so they can both pour over the magazines that Hinata’s mother brought. There’s only one issue of Volleyball Monthly, which they’ve both already read, but there’s a few articles to discuss. Some of the other magazines look interesting too, even if they’re not about volleyball specifically.

Tobio has to lean a bit awkwardly to look at anything Hinata points out in the magazine he’s got on his lap. His height is really not working for him here. He’s contemplating just standing and leaning over Hinata when the other boy just grabs his sleeve and tugs.

“Come here,” Hinata sighs.

Tobio frowns at him, “come… where?”

“Here!” Hinata pats the side on the bed next to him.

“I…” Tobio pauses. There’s a million questions popping up in his mind, the most prominent of them being ‘why does Hinata want me on the bed?’ But he can’t deny that does kind of want to…

“I don’t think I’m going to fit, even if you are tiny.”

“Maybe you’re just too _big_,” Hinata shoots back. “But no, look, there’s loads of room, see?” He very gingerly shuffles over, slowly, away from Tobio until he’s almost at the edge of the bed.

Tobio eyes the gap that’s revealed and the drip line that’s pulled a little tighter as a result warily. “I don’t…”he starts again, but Hinata is giving him The Eyes again, and Tobio is (and probably always will be) weak to them. “Fine,” he huffs, bending down to remove his indoor slippers and very carefully clambering onto the bed. He makes sure to hold the drip line so he doesn’t accidentally yank it, and watches Hinata’s face closely for any signs of discomfort as the mattress dips with his added weight.

“There you are,” Hinata says, pleased, once Tobio is finally seated next to him on top of the covers, legs stretched out. “Much comfier, right?”

Tobio hums, wiggling his toes. His hips are level with Hinata’s, and he notes with amusement at how much further his legs stretch down the bed than the other boy’s. The redhead must notice this, because he pokes him in the side, where he’s ticklish.

They sit there for a long while, reading the sports magazines in relative quiet, until the sun outside starts to dip, bathing the room in an orange glow.

“Hey, Kageyama…” Hinata starts to say, dropping the magazine he was reading on the floor beside him. His voice is quiet, subdued.

Tobio grunts his acknowledgement.

“… I’m sorry.”

Tobio snaps his eyes from the article he was mostly skimming about protein supplements to stare at his friend. Hinata isn’t looking at him, instead staring straight ahead, his eyes distant. He looks a little sad, his brow slightly furrowed and his mouth in a straight, serious line. 

“About what?”

Hinata draws in a deep breath and releases it slowly, like he’s building courage. “Yesterday morning, when you asked me about college… about going together and stuff?”

Tobio hands tighten on the magazine pages, the crinkling of glossy paper loud in the otherwise silent room. “Yeah…?” He murmurs. He wants to look away, so Hinata can’t see his face, but he can’t. He almost wants to ask Hinata to let it go, tell him it doesn’t matter, he’s that willing to just let the topic drop now. But he also just _needs_ to hear the end of what Hinata didn’t tell him in the clubroom.

“It’s just, you looked…” Hinata breaks off, and his legs shift under the blankets. He makes an attempt to bring his knees up, but he winces and aborts the attempt. Tobio unclenches one fist from the magazine and rests one hand on Hinata’s closest knee, until the tension in the redhead’s face starts to ease.

“You looked really upset,” Hinata mumbles, his eyes dropping from the wall in front of them to look at Tobio’s hand instead. He ducks his head, causing his hair to fall from his face, masking his expression. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s… it’s fine,” Tobio grunts. A horrible lead weight is starting to make itself known in the pit of his stomach. He’s really not sure if he wants to continue this conversation.

“But it’s not!” Hinata protests, still not lifting his head. “I didn’t… I didn’t know you wanted that.”

Tobio has to work to force his tongue to unstick itself from the roof of his mouth. “Wanted what?”

“To go together,” Hinata says, finally lifting his head again to meet Tobio’s gaze. Even sitting side-by-side like this, his head is still a good few inches below Tobio’s. His chin is lifted defiantly, but his eyes are shiny. “Because you do, don’t you?”

Tobio wants to scoff, to deny it, to get off this bed and tell him ‘don’t be stupid, dumbass’ and get his stuff and leave but he does none of these things. He’s never been able to be anything else other than honest, with Hinata. “I do,” he confirms. His voice is barely audible.

Unexpectedly, Hinata’s face crumples, his brow creasing as his mouth starts to wobble. He looks so much younger, like this. Tobio’s heart squeezes tightly.

Hinata sniffs mightily, and his eyes shine brighter but no tears fall. He tilts forward until his forehead is resting against Tobio’s shoulder. Their limbs are pressed tight together like this, a long warm line from the tops of their arms down to where Hinata’s foot is brushing Tobio’s calf.

“I want to too,” Hinata whispers, his voice muffled against Tobio’s clothes.

Tobio stares down at the little orange head tucked up against him. It feels like his organs are doing somersaults inside. “Then why did you…?” He starts to say, feeling hopelessly confused.

Hinata doesn’t answer at first, before hesitantly, “I thought I shouldn’t.”

Tobio can’t reply, his mouth is too dry, and his vocal cords won’t work. He’s so confused. What does that mean?

“I love playing with you,” Hinata tells him, the words soft and so earnest that Tobio’s breath hitches. “I really do. When we get a combo just right, or when the other team just stares at us like ‘wow! How did they do that!’ it’s like _fwaaah!_” His words are building momentum now. “I really, really like that feeling. And I kind of like it, a lot actually, when people look at us and go ‘ahh it’s those two from Karasuno!’ But I don’t want to… depend on you, you know? I want people to see me a spiker worth having because of my own skills.”

“You don’t depend on me,” Tobio says immediately, his throat finally unsticking as the words punch out of him. Because it’s true. “You haven’t depended on me for months.” Some of the dread in his stomach is starting to lift, because slowly, he can see what Hinata’s problem is.

“Don’t I?”

“Because you need me to get the ball to you?”

Hinata doesn’t reply, and Tobio knows he’s right. He tips his head forward, until his forehead is just brushing Hinata’s crown. The dread in his belly dries up as understanding floods him. _Ah. I see now._

“I’m supposed to get the ball to you, I’m your setter,” Tobio says into red, red hair. “That’s my _job_. And yeah, okay, you needed me specifically to set for you at the beginning because you were a disaster who could only hit the easiest of tosses. But you’re not now. It was you that fought against what everyone telling you so you could fight on your own. You don’t depend on me to get the ball to you, you _demand_ it. You decide the height, speed and direction just as much as I do.” He pauses to lick his lips, before continuing. “I love it too, you know, setting for you. When you drag an entire team’s blockers away so another spiker has a clear hit. When you’re so fast they don’t have even have time to react before the point is scored. Do you how many people are scared of you, specifically, when you're on the court? As a setter, nothing feels better. I enjoy every game of volleyball I play, but I enjoy it most when I’m playing with _you_.”

Hinata makes a warbly sort of noise in his throat and presses tighter against Tobio’s side. “I don’t think you’ve been this nice to me, ever,” he says. His voice is very wobbly.

“Don’t get used to it.” Tobio smiles into his hair.

“I want to get better,” Hinata says, his voice still teary but getting steadier. “I… I think I’m always going to want to be better than you.”

“I want to be better than you too,” Tobio tells him honestly. “But we’ve been competing while playing on the same team for nearly two years, why should that have to change? ‘I want to stay on the court longer than you’ – what better way to judge that than if we’re standing on the same side?”

“That’s… true.”

“I think… we could probably play well with other people. Well I definitely can.”

Hinata snorts against him, and only sounds a little snotty.

“But, you know, Daichi said once he thought pairing us up was like adding two parts together.”

“He did?”

“Mmm. But then he realised it wasn't addition. It was multiplying.”

“Kageyama, don’t bring up maths.”

“Shhh. It’s not ‘two halves needing each other to play’, it’s ‘you’re good, I’m good, and together we’re even _better_.’ You’ve never let me stop you from improving, are you really going to stop now?”

Hinata makes a noise against him before shifting and lifting his head away from Tobio’s shoulder. Tobio leans back a bit so he can look him in the eye. The redhead’s cheeks are little shiny, from tears, probably, but his eyes are dry and fierce. “I want to play on a college team with you,” he declares, “I want to go to the top of the world.”

“Okay, let’s do that,” Tobio agrees, his heart singing. If you had told him in middle school that he would want nothing more than to stand on the world stage with the scrawny ginger kid who could run fast and jump high but was useless at volleyball, he would’ve laughed at you. But here he is, wanting nothing more than to stand on the court, for game after game after game, setting for this one singular person.

“But I’ll get the Olympic gold first.”

“Now let’s not be completely unrealistic.”

* * *

It doesn’t take too much longer for Hinata to start falling asleep. Tobio is honestly a little surprised he lasted this long.

The other boy’s head is still tucked up against Tobio’s shoulder, resting on him fully now, his breaths coming out slower and deeper as his eyelids start to droop. Tobio should, probably, nudge him awake again so he can get off the bed and let Hinata sleep properly, but he doesn’t. He still feels too warm and happy to move, and he allows himself this extra little bit of selfishness.

He manages to slide one arm between Hinata’s shoulders and the pillows behind so the other boy can be closer against him. Tilting back, Tobio rests his head on the back of the headboard and reaches up to tease his fingers through Hinata’s hair.

“What is it with you and my hair…?” Hinata mumbles, voice thick. Not quite asleep then.

Tobio’s fingers still, but then Hinata bucks his head just a little, and he takes it as encouragement to continue. “I like it,” Tobio mutters, and then immediately goes scarlet.

(He does though. It’s a frankly ridiculous colour and always looks like Hinata hasn’t brushed it a day in his life, but it’s also soft and sometimes it doesn’t look messy so much as _artfully mussed_… and Tobio’s getting carried away again.)

“Y’do?”

“Yeah, the, um… colour. S’nice,” Tobio manages. He’d die, probably, if he admitted it was soft. His cheeks are so hot.

“Really?” Hinata sighs. He sounds very sleepy. “Hmm… I like the colour of your eyes, then,” he declares. Like he’s trying to compete with Tobio still, even half asleep.

“My eyes?”

“Mmhm. They’re blue. I don’t know anyone else with blue eyes.”

Tobio considers this. He doesn’t think blue eyes are that rare, really? He doesn’t know, he doesn’t pay attention to that sort of thing. It makes him feel fluttery anyway.

There’s a buzz against his thigh, making him jump. Hinata huffs against him at the sudden movement.

Tobio grunts out an apology, drawing his phone out of his pocket. There’s a message from his mother, saying he has to come home soon. He scowls at it, but, in fairness, it is getting rather late. And Hinata’s almost unconscious. As comfortable as he is, it’ll probably soon be pretty uncomfortable with Hinata snoring against him.

He nudges the other boy gently. “I have to get up.”

“Nooo…” Hinata whines, but he doesn’t put up too much of a fight as Tobio very slowly extracts his arm and slides from the bed. The side that was pressed up against the redhead feels very cold.

“You need to sleep,” Tobio orders. He tugs the covers up until they meet Hinata’s chin to make his point.

Hinata hums, opening one eye half way to look at him. “Will you come back tomorrow?” He asks, sighing into his pillows.

“Sure.”

“Don’t miss practice, though.”

“Just because you’re slacking off doesn’t mean I will,” Tobio teases.

“Don’t miss me too much.”

“I’ll try,” Tobio says dryly. He will, definitely, but he won’t admit this to Hinata. “Go to sleep.”

Hinata closes his eye and says, very, very quietly “’night ‘Yama.”

Tobio’s heart does that thing again where he’s worried it’s going to burst out of chest. He busies himself with texting his mother to let her know he’s ready and pulls the hospital slippers back on.

Even though by the time he works out how to get to the hospital’s main entrance again his mother will probably be there waiting he can’t bring himself to leave the room just yet. Instead, he folds himself into his chair again and just watches Hinata’s breaths even out slowly and deeply, until soft snores start to fill the room.

(Hinata denies, vehemently, that he snores. Tsukishima says he has to wear earplugs if he has the misfortune of being next to him during overnight training camps.)

Tobio is aware, vaguely, that it’s perhaps not exactly normal to spend as much time _looking_ at your friend as he does looking at Hinata. But Tobio’s never really cared about being ‘normal’ and he couldn’t stop watching Hinata if he tried. At first, it was because the other boy was an anomaly. Someone blessed with an athletic gift Tobio could only wish he had, but who had no idea how to use it. He’d be bumbling around the court one minute and then be leaping higher and faster than he had any right to the next. And as he got better… he was captivating. Tobio swears his heart stops, sometimes, when the ball just leaves his fingers from a toss and he all can do is watch as Hinata is there, always, exactly on time, soaring above him with invisible wings.

His phone buzzes again and he sighs, standing from his chair and grabbing his bag.

Before he leaves, he maybe runs his fingers through Hinata’s hair once more, and he maybe leans down to brush his closed lips against where bright hair falls across the other boy’s temple.

* * *

It’s Tuesday morning when Hinata is finally allowed home from the hospital.

Tobio gets a jubilant text message from him during morning classes, complete with lots of emojis, and he has to hide his smile behind his hand when his classmates look at him curiously.

Practice that afternoon is disjointed and loud with no structure, because everyone else knows too, and Tanaka and Nishinoya keep coming up with steadily more ludicrous ideas for a party.

“Why does he need a party?” Tsukishima wonders as Ennoshita snags Nishinoya around the collar before he can launch at someone in his exuberance again.

“Because he’s home from hospital, _duh!_” Tanaka tells him, punching him lightly on the shoulder.

“And he survived his stomach exploding!” Nishinoya cheers from where he’s still dangling in Ennoshita’s grip.

Tsukishima squints up at him. “His stomach didn’t explode, did you even understand the explanation-“

“Oh, who cares, the point is he’s okay and he’s home and we gotta show him how much we missed him!” Tanaka shouts, reaching for the hem of his shirt.

Ennoshita clamps his free hand around Tanaka’s wrist before he can rip his clothes off. “Hinata needs _rest_, not a party,” he says sternly. He looks very tired.

“You saw him yesterday,” Tsukishima points out.

The whole team had visited Hinata at the hospital over the last two days. Yamaguchi, Yachi and Tsukishima (allegedly unwillingly, but he even he looked a bit concerned at the sight of Hinata in a hospital bed) had tagged along with Tobio on Sunday, after practice. The first years and Ennoshita, Kinoshita and Narita had popped in briefly on Sunday evening and Nishinoya and Tanaka visited on Monday.

This last visit almost hadn’t happened. Apparently they were too loud and noisy for someone who’d just had abdominal surgery and they had a bad habit of drawing Hinata into their antics (so said Ennoshita.) They were most displeased at this allegation and somehow managed to get Ashai, who had the day off work, to go with them and to appease those with concerns.

Tobio didn’t really think Asahi had any calming influence on them at all, but at least he was big enough to hold them back from trying to hug Hinata too enthusiastically. He’d hovered over Hinata anxiously the entire visit like a large, jittery bear, but Hinata had been delighted to see him nonetheless.

“Look I’m sure we can organise something more _civil _with Hinata’s mother…” Ennoshita was saying, but Tobio had stopped listening.

Coach was signalling for the end of practice (not that anyone had been that productive), and that meant he could leave.

Tobio wasn’t going to wait around for an organised, orderly team visit to go and see Hinata finally out of hospital.

He doesn’t bother to get changed, he just races to the clubroom to get his stuff. Thumping down the stairs, he gets a few bewildered looks from his teammates still filing out of the gym, but he ignores them.

“Aren’t you going to get changed?” Yamaguchi calls as he speeds past.

Tanaka clears his throat loudly. “Yamaguchi, what were you saying earlier about your parents having a big car we could make use of…?”

Tobio just catches Tanaka’s eye as he’s about the round the corner. His upperclassmen gives him a wink before resuming his enthusiastic party planning, regaining the team’s attention. Tobio’s heart squeezes in gratitude, and he almost runs into Coach (who’s on the phone) as he speeds up into a jog towards the school gates.

He’s home in record time, thudding up the stairs to dump his stuff and stripping off his sweaty practice shirt. He debates having a shower before deciding it’s not worth it, and just throwing a clean shirt on instead. It’s not like Hinata’s ever cared about that sort of thing anyway. Back down the stairs, two at a time, stuffing the essentials in his pockets as he goes. He was sort of hoping his mother would be home and he could ask for a lift but she’s not but that’s fine he can bike. Throwing open the front door again, he’s barely got one foot over the threshold before he’s stopped in his tracks by a surprised yell.

“_Jesus_ Kageyama!”

Tobio’s head snaps down, and he finds himself face-to-face with a very wide-eyed Hinata, who has one hand raised as if he was about to knock on the door.

“What are you doing here?” Tobio borderline shouts. He can’t decide whether he’s more confused or happy about this.

“Coming to see you,” Hinata says, looking amused. “But if you’re busy I can…” he trails off vaguely.

“I was going to see you,” Tobio interrupts.

“Ah!” Hinata grins, looking pleased.

Tobio takes a second to look at him – he’s dressed in loose, comfortable clothes, scuffed trainers and there’s a plastic bag dangling from his fingertips. He looks… good, honestly. Much better than the last few days, where he just looked pale at best to ghostly at worst. But now his complexion is back to normal, his hair isn’t damp with sweat and he’s smiling, obviously.

Tobio can’t see his bike anywhere.

Eventually his brain starts to catch up. “What are you doing here, dumbass, you’re supposed to be on bedrest!” He hisses, suddenly annoyed. If Hinata has walked all the way from his house as soon as he’s been left alone when he should be resting Tobio is going to-

“I got a lift, dummy!” Hinata protests. He’s still smiling. “And it’s not ‘bedrest’ it’s just ‘take it easy for a couple of weeks’, I even have to go back to school soon.” He doesn’t sound too pleased about this last part.

“Oh,” Tobio says, feeling the anger drain away. He briefly wonders how Hinata knows where he lives, because he doesn’t remember ever telling him.

“Here!” Hinata says then, lifting the bag he’s holding.

Curious, Tobio takes it. It’s from the Sakanoshita Store. Peeking in, he sees there’s a brown paper bag inside and he reaches in with one hand to open it, feeling warm steam brush against his fingers. The smell of a curry meat bun wafts up and into his nose. “A… meat bun?”

“First one of the week, like I promised,” Hinata says. “I, uh, asked Coach to help me get the freshest one too!”

Tobio looks from the bag to Hinata, who’s fidgeting. He feels very warm, and it’s not because of the hot food. He can’t think of anything to say for a long time, can’t even say ‘thank-you’, even though Hinata is looking at him expectantly. Somehow the meat bun feels like more than a promise fulfilment.

When he finally manages to get his mouth to work what comes out is, “you need to sit down.”

Hinata doesn’t take offence though. “I’m allowed to _stand_, Bakageyama, it’s not that bad! Oh but hey, look!” He brightens as something seemingly suddenly occurs to him. Then to Tobio’s alarm, he grabs the bottom of his shirt and lifts it, exposing his abdomen. “It’s not that big, but I think I’ll probably still get a cool scar like Tanaka said, don’t you think?”

He’s referring to the small incision on his right side, just above his hip. It’s not that big, and has apparently healed well enough that it doesn’t require a dressing anymore, but Tobio can’t look at it too closely. Partly because it reminds him of what Hinata had to go through to get the wound in the first place and also because he’s suddenly got a startlingly excellent view of Hinata’s abs. Someone as small as Hinata is really shouldn’t be so… toned.

All Tobio can manage is an embarrassing, croaky sort of noise.

Hinata drops his shirt then, and rocks backwards and forwards on his feet, suddenly looking nervous.

Tobio wonders, wildly, whether he’s somehow managed to make Hinata feel bad even though that’s not really his fault, he didn’t ask for Hinata to suddenly _expose_ himself like that when the other boy says, “can I give you something else?”

“Huh?”

Hinata steps forward, into his space, right in front of him. He reaches out with small hands and grabs the front of Tobio’s shirt and sucks in a breath, looking very determined. “Don’t freak out,” Hinata orders.

Tobio find himself frozen in place, very much so freaking out, but then Hinata’s dragging him down to his level, and his face is coming towards him and Tobio is suddenly very worried Hinata is going to headbutt him, or something, but then instead of a small forehead crashing against his nose there’s a small press of lips against his.

The contact is at best only a few seconds, but it feels to Tobio like a very long minute, his head full of static and his heartbeat pounding in his ears, before it occurs to him that Hinata is kissing him.

And then Hinata is pulling away, just enough that he can look Tobio in the eye. (Tobio notes that along with dragging him down, Hinata is also standing on his tiptoes.) He has an indescribable expression on his face, somewhere between nervous and grimly determined. “Was that okay?”

“Yeah,” Tobio croaks, because it was unexpected, and a bit weird, but definitely, one hundred percent okay.

It’s like watching the sun come up, the way Hinata’s smile spreads across his face then – wide and bright and so happy.

“Oh, good! I was worried for second, you looked a bit scary, but I’ve noticed you’ve been well, _looking_, and I’ve been wanting to do that for ages but I didn’t know if I should because you’re you and-“

Tobio cuts him off by kissing him again – slightly more forcefully this time. Not to be outdone (because he’ll never let Hinata win at anything, ever), he tilts his head so their noses aren’t in the way, so Hinata slots against him closer and _better. _Every single nerve ending in his body is singing - it's like when he manages a particularly difficult toss, like fireworks are going off inside of him but even more addicting. He wants to chase this feeling forever.

Then what Hinata was saying registers in his brain and he pulls back with a scowl. “What do you mean ‘looking’?” He demands.

Hinata looks a bit dazed, but he recovers quickly. His smile morphs into something borderline wicked. “You think I didn’t notice you staring?” He says, like it’s a challenge. “Like, just now, you weren’t looking at my scar, were you?”

The implication is not lost on Tobio and he can feel every drop of blood in his body rushing to his face. “Sh-shut up!” He splutters as Hinata cackles.

“It’s okay, I look too, I’m just better at getting away with it I guess, seeing as you've never noticed.”

Tobio growls, hopelessly embarrassed and also happy. So, _so_ happy. “I will leave you out here on the street.”

“You can’t do that, I need to sit down, remember?”

“There’s a bench over there.”

“_Nooo_, Kageyama! Come on, let me in, we can sit on your bed and you can practice the art of staring, but not creepily.”

“Nope, I’m taking my bun and leaving.”

“Kageyamaaa. _Tobio!_”

“Okay, fine, stop whining. I guess you can come in and sit down before you keel over again.”

“Yay! Will you carry me?”

“What? No, you’re a lump.”

“_What!_ Take that back, I am _not_ a lump!”

“You’re heavy.”

“It’s all my muscle.”

“Uh-huh.”

“The muscle you can’t stop looking at.”

“…”

“It’s okay, I like it when you do. I look at you too, remember?”

“O-oh. Yeah.”

“Come on, I think Family Fortune is on.”

"... Really?" 

"Do you want to sit on your bed and look at universities?"

"... Better. Why my bed?"

"Isn't that where you're supposed to be, if you're kissing and stuff?"

"What do you mean 'and stuff'? And you're supposed to be _resting_, I'm not taking you back to the hospital again because your side has burst out or something-"

"Eww, Kageyama. Do you... not want to then?"

"Of course I want to, don't be stupid. Just be _careful_."

"Hmm... okay! Come on, hurry up, the meat bun will get cold at this rate and my efforts to get you the first one will be wasted-"

"It's okay, you're still getting me another six, right?"

"_Kageyama._"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get you a bf who likes your thighs.
> 
> I'm on Twitter too @emlee_J

**Author's Note:**

> You can also find me on Twitter @Emlee_J


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